Obama confirms plans for accelerated drawdown of troops in Afghanistan

By William Spain, MarketWatch

President Obama turns to Afghan President Hamid Karzai as he addresses a joint news conferenceopn Friday.

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) ? President Barack Obama on Saturday confirmed plans for an accelerated drawdown of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, saying that Afghan troops will soon take the lead in battling Taliban rebels.

?Our core objective ? the reason we went to war in the first place ? is now within reach: ensuring that al Qaeda can never again use Afghanistan to launch attacks against America,? he said in his weekly radio address. Obama met earlier in the week in Washington with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

?This week, we agreed that this spring, Afghan forces will take the lead for security across the entire country, and our troops will shift to a support role,? he said. ?And by the end of next year, America?s war in Afghanistan will be over.?

Opinion: Zero dark Afghanistan

Columnist Bret Stephens comments on President Obama's meeting with Afghan president Hamid Karzai at the White House. Photo: Getty Images

U.S forces have been mired in the Central Asian nation since shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 in what has become the longest war in U.S. history. Roughly half a million soldiers have served there over that period, with more 2,000 dead as a result.

?This progress has only been possible because of the heroic sacrifices of our troops and diplomats, alongside forces from many other nations,? Obama said.

He added that it ?remains a very difficult mission: but ?after more than a decade of war, the nation we need to rebuild is our own.?

Specifically, he called for ways to grow the economy and shrink the deficits while creating new jobs and boosting family income.

Further, ?we have to fix our infrastructure and our immigration system,? he said. ?We have to protect our planet from the destructive effects of climate change ? and protect our children from the horrors of gun violence.?

William Spain is a MarketWatch staff writer in Chicago.

Source: http://feeds.marketwatch.com/~r/marketwatch/bulletins/~3/4pmSEIPgGk8/bulletinredir.asp

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