Obamas State of the Union transcript about Afghanistan war: Tonight, because of the extraordinary troops and civilians who risk and lay down their lives to keep us free, the United States is more secure. When I took office, nearly 180,000 Americans were serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Today, all our troops are out of Iraq. More than 60,000 of our troops have already come home from Afghanistan. With Afghan forces now in the lead for their own security, our troops have moved to a support role. Together with our allies, we will complete our mission there by the end of this year, and Americas longest war will finally be over. After 2014, we will support a unified Afghanistan as it takes responsibility for its own future. If the Afghan government signs a security agreement that we have negotiated, a small force of Americans could remain in Afghanistan with NATO allies to carry out two narrow missions: training and assisting Afghan forces and counterterrorism operations to pursue any remnants of al-Qaida. For while our relationship with Afghanistan will change, one thing will not: our resolve that terrorists do not launch attacks against our country. (Post Analysis from Ernesto Londoño: Two things were missing from this speech: the number of troops the administration is willing to leave behind after 2014 and a strongly-worded plea to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has so far refused to sign a security pact that would allow a contingent to remain. )
Posted on: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 15:44:06 +0000
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