BARACK OBAMA last night confirmed the withdrawal of 10,000 US troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year and said that a total of 33,000 troops will have pulled out by next summer.
Speaking in a televised address from the White House last night, the US president said his country needs to focus on its people and its economy: “America, it is time to focus on nation building here at home.”
The troops being withdrawn this year are those sent in under his ‘surge’ plans, which he said focused on tackling al-Qaeda, reversing the Taliban’s momentum and training Afghan security forces.
Obama described sending the extra troops to Afghanistan as “one of the most difficult decisions that I’ve made as president” and said that their exit would mark the start of a steady withdrawl of US troops:
After this initial reduction, our troops will continue coming home at a steady pace as Afghan security forces move into the lead. Our mission will change from combat to support. By 2014, this process of transition will be complete, and the Afghan people will be responsible for their own security.
NATO has also set a 2014 deadline for the withdrawal of its forces.
Watch Obama’s address in full:
Pakistan
The US president also spoke of the country’s “victory” in killing al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden earlier this year in Pakistan:
Together with the Pakistanis, we have taken out more than half of al-Qaeda’s leadership. And thanks to our intelligence professionals and Special Forces, we killed Osama bin Laden, the only leader that al-Qaeda had ever known. This was a victory for all who have served since 9/11. One soldier summed it up well. “The message,” he said, “is we don’t forget. You will be held accountable, no matter how long it takes.”
Obama also said that as “peace cannot come to a land that has known so much war without a political settlement”, the US would “join initiatives” to for reconciliation within Afghanistan, including the Taliban. He warned that the US would not police Afghan streets indefinitely, saying that is the responsibility of the Afghan government.
He then called on the Hamid Karzai’s government to “step up” its ability to protect its people and develop its economy for peace time. Obama said the US would continue to support its ally Pakistan in tackling terrorism and ensure that it adhered to its commitments in rooting out violent extremism:
For there should be no doubt that so long as I am President, the United States will never tolerate a safe haven for those who aim to kill us. They cannot elude us, nor escape the justice they deserve.
Obama said that having spent “a trillion dollars on war at a time of rising debt and hard economic times”, it was time to focus on American people, jobs, innovation and industries. “And most of all,” he said, “after a decade of passionate debate, we must recapture the common purpose that we shared at the beginning of this time of war”.
The US spends over $110bn a year on the Afghan war.
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