The US to Leave Afghanistan

News media reports today that US President Barack Obama will announce plan to leave Afghanistan by the year 2014. They have 3 and a half year to prepare. I hope they will not be caught by surprise. It was not the case for my native land, Cambodian, when the Congress decided to cut the military aid and assistance that lead to panic and military disaster and the fall of the country to the communists in 1975.
    I hope that the US should be careful before engaging in foreign campaign... human tragedy could happen in the wake of the withdrawal.

Update: Today June 22 at 5:00PM PST, in an address to the nation and to the world President Obama anoounces that the US will withdraw 10,000 by next month and another 33,000 by next Summer of 2012. By 2014 the US will not have combat role. It is known that the US troops have neutralize the Al Qaeda by killing their lear Osama bin Laden early this year in Paksitan. The US will focus on nation-building at home. Some congressmen criticize the announcement as a deterrent to counter insurgency effort.

NBC News and news services

updated 16 minutes ago 2011-06-23T00:39:40

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said he has decided to bring 33,000 American troops home from the 10-year-old war in Afghanistan by next summer.

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   AFP - Getty Images

In a nationally televised speech outlining a shift in U.S. policy, Obama said that after the initial reduction, more troops will be pulled out of Afghanistan at a steady pace as Afghans take over their own security by 2014.
"America, it is time to focus on nation-building here at home,'' Obama said.
Obama said that 10,000 troops will be transferred out of Afghanistan by the end of this year and the full 33,000 deployed as part of the "surge" ordered in 2009 will come home no later than September 2012.
"The tide of war is receding," he said to war-weary Americans eager for an exit to the conflict.
Obama said the United States is able to remove troops as al-Qaida is under more pressure than at any time since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that precipitated the war.

    He said the United States will join initiatives aimed at reconciling the Afghan people, including the Taliban, as the Afghan government and security forces are strengthened.

 

  

By the numbers

1. Overall troops (U.S., allies): 146,000
   U.S.: 98,000
   United Kingdom: 9,500
   Germany: 5,000
   France: 4,000
   Italy: 4,000
   February 2009: Obama orders 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan
   December 2009: Obama decides to send 30,000 more troops
   January 2011: U.S. announces 1,400 additional Marines to Afghanistan