Afghanistan troops coming home as war operations wind down

U.S. Troops in Afghanistan Coming Home

Afghanistan troops of the United States are coming home at last as President Barack Obama said Wednesday that the U.S. had achieved what it set out to do when it first entered the country after the September 11 attacks.

Burdened by conflicts elsewhere and also by domestic concerns, the U.S. has anticipated the withdrawal of its Afghanistan troops for quite some time.

Explaining that the "tide of war is receding," Obama added that "America, it is time to focus on nation-building here at home."

The withdrawal will occur in stages. A total of 10,000 troops are to be pulled out by the end of this year. Another 20,000 would exit next summer. That would leave just 2/3 of the current size of American presence in Afghanistan by then. The plan is to transfer control of security to Afghan forces by 2014.

The pullout of Afghanistan troops is faster than originally expected as Obama feels increasing pressure to bring the soldiers home and to solve the many weak points in the economy. It also comes ahead of his re-election bid.

In a speech at the White House, Obama said the decade-long involvement of the U.S. is justified but must end "responsibly." He admitted that even with the withdrawal of the country's Afghanistan troops, there remains plenty of issues to be addressed in  war-torn Afghanistan.

Instead of all-out war by massive forces, U.S. government officials now want clandestine counterterrorism operations to be prioritized to hunt down the remnants of Al-Qaeda whose leader Osama Bin Laden was killed by an elite squad earlier this year.

U.S.-trained Afghanistan troops will have to shoulder the responsibility of making their own country secure, Obama said.

Posted by James Fried on Thursday June 23 2011, 8:38 PM EDT. Ref: NYT. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0