Karzai: Obama's Afghan plan "a good measure"
Updated at 7:10 a.m. Eastern
KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Thursday his nation's youth will stand up and defend the country as the U.S. begins to pull troops out, while the Taliban promised to fight as long as foreign soldiers remain there.
Karzai spoke briefly from the presidential palace Thursday morning after U.S. President Obama announced he would bring 33,000 U.S. troops home by next summer. Karzai thanked international troops for their support and said "the people of Afghanistan will be protecting their homeland."
"The transition of the security and the withdrawal of the foreign troops from Afghanistan means the Afghan forces must be strengthened," Karzai said.
The U.S. and its allies have set Dec. 31, 2014, as a target date for ending the combat mission in Afghanistan. Karzai, who has increased his criticism of the U.S.-led NATO force in recent months, said he and others welcomed the withdrawals as "a good measure."
Meanwhile, in a rare statement in English, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the U.S. "must take serious steps to stop this pointless bloodshed."
The "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan once again wants to make it clear that the solution for the Afghan crisis lies in the full withdrawal of all foreign troops immediately and until this ... happens, our armed struggle will increase from day to day," Mujahid said.
In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy announced the progressive withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan on a timetable matching the American troop pullout that starts this summer. France currently has about 4,000 troops in the country.
The U.S. withdrawal plan announced by President Obama is more aggressive than some military advisers had urged. But, two months before Mr. Obama will be up for re-election, he will be able to give voters evidence that he is committed to bringing troops home. Yet even if all 33,000 troops are withdrawn, there will still be roughly twice as many troops in Afghanistan as when Mr. Obama took office in January 2009.
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Mr. Obama said the U.S. has made progress in its fight against al Qaeda, noting the killing of Osama bin Laden. But, he said, "al Qaeda remains dangerous, and we must be vigilant against attacks."
Senior White House officials said Wednesday that public opinion polls did not influence the president's decision, but that Mr. Obama is keenly aware that Americans are growing tired of the costly fight. A recent CBS News poll showed that 64 percent of Americans now want the number of troops in Afghanistan decreased.
The trouble, reports CBS News correspondent Mandy Clark, is that many Afghans agree with the U.S. generals - they don't think their security forces are up to the job. A recent NATO report, adds Clark, came to the same conclusion. It found that, even after 10 years working with coalition troops, Afghan forces still suffer from poor training, a lack of professionalism and corruption. Clark notes that the heaviest price paid in the war thus far, has been by the Afghans themselves. According to the United Nations, more than 8,000 civilians have been killed in the last four years of fighting.