NATO: Afghan drawdown by end of 2014 still our goal
Afghan National Police line up after the official ceremony to take down the flag at the end of the day at their base in Lashkar Gah, Helmand, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2012. In eastern Afghanistan a suicide car bomber blew up his vehicle near the gate of a U.S.- Afghan combat outpost Wednesday, wounding at least 10 Afghan soldiers. / AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus
KABUL, Afghanistan NATO's top official said Thursday the alliance remains committed to help enable Afghan forces to assume full responsibility for the country's security after 2014, when coalition troops are due to end their combat mission.
The statement by visiting Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen comes amid speculation that the U.S.-led alliance could accelerate its withdrawal plans.
"Our goal is that Afghanistan will be able to stand on its own feet, but Afghanistan will not stand alone," Fogh Rasmussen said.
NATO's governing body, the North Atlantic Council, was visiting Kabul for meetings with President Hamid Karzai, coalition military commander Gen. John Allen and commanders of the Afghan government's forces.
The military alliance has also agreed to offer a smaller, post-2014 mission to help the Afghan forces with training, advice and assistance.
- Panetta calls on NATO to "fill the gap" in training Afghanistan's national defense forces
- Last of U.S. surge troops out of Afghanistan
- NATO: Afghan drawdown unaffected by ops change
The strategy agreed to among NATO, its partners and Karzai's government is meant to enable the Afghans to take over the war against the Taliban and other insurgents by the end of 2014.
NATO started drawing down its forces earlier this year. It currently has 104,000 troops in Afghanistan — 68,000 of them Americans — down from 140,000 the alliance had here in 2011.
Polls show the 11-year war remains deeply unpopular among NATO's 28 member states, most of which are cutting defense budgets at a time of austerity caused by financial crises. There have been calls in the United States and elsewhere to accelerate the drawdown plan.
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I'm beginning to think our government is being run by a bunch of Cretins.
Get our troops out of there now.!!
For years the Presidents have been saying we would be out of there by the end of 2014.
Now this article says we will still keep troops in Afghanistan even after the end of 2014.!
NATO members; with a grain of sense; have been pulling their troops out for years.
Not the good ole USA though.!
The Russians had troops in Afghanistan for years; and though it took them a while, they finally figured out it was a lost cause; and pulled their troops out so fast they left their armor behind.
Twelve+ years, 2,000 plus American lives and multiple thousands of Americans maimed, wounded or disabled for life later; the US is still hanging in there.
To top it all off; last March Obama sneaked in there and signed an agreement with Karzai that the US will continue to send them billions every year until 2024.
WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE.???!!
Sounds like Obama is hell bent on keeping the US economy on the edge of collapse as long as he can.
As long as he can keep the American people as far down as possible by throwing our money down the rat holes of countries that are our enemies; he can keep us under his thumb.
Obama and Congress control the money folks, and as long as we are willing to throw our money away; they are going to keep on doing it.
I move we demand a special election with Congressional reform and ending the war in Afghanistan on it as referendums.
In spite of the opinions, the cost in lives and money we don't have; if we don't do something to stop them; we are going to keep on suffering at their hands, AND it's only going to get worse.!!
I wasn't being critical of Pres. Obama Actually, I am a big supporter of the Pres and really hope he gets re-elected. I was actually behind the invasion of Afghanistan to get OBL and bring down the Taliban that allowed him to operate there. As I once heard it said, "Afghanistan was a country in search of a leader and Bin Laden was a leader in search of a country". Now that he 'sleeps with the fish' I don't see any value in us staying there. If the Afghans didn't rise up and throw the Taliban out after they tried to murder a little girl, then it is a hopeless dream to think anything we do will ever make a difference. All we can do by remaining there is to get more of our service men and women killed and throw away a lot of money. I think the President has his reasons for sticking with it until 2014 but I sure wouldn't mind if he decided to yank our people out tomorrow morning! The Taliban are nothing but local hillbillies and I don't think they have the brains or ability to export their lunacy and threaten the US. Al Qaeda on the other hand, is a whole different animal.