Obama Announces 2014 End to Afghan Combat
ABC News reports:
Wrapping up his 32-hour trip to Lisbon, President Obama said today that his goal is to end the current U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan by 2014 but said there will still be a training and support function for American troops there, just as there is now in Iraq.
“My goal is to make sure by 2014 we have transitioned, Afghans are in the lead and it is a goal to make sure that we are not still engaged in combat operations of the sort that we’re involved with now,” he said at a press conference at the end of the NATO summit. “Certainly our footprint will have been significantly reduced.”
Still the president acknowledged that it is “hard to anticipate” now what will be necessary in Afghanistan in four years.
Mr. Obama said that Afghanistan is “in a better place now than we were a year ago” and expressed confidence that the U.S. forces will be able to begin its withdrawal starting in July of 2011.
