Obama announces troop drawdown
Source: Agencies |
June 24, 2011, Friday
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A PHASED pullout of troops from Afghanistan has been announced by United States President Barack Obama in a bid to end a costly war and switch focus to the troubled US economy.
Obama's plan to withdraw 10,000 troops by the end of the year and a further 23,000 by the end of next summer won immediate support from France's president, who promised to follow suit.
However, about 70,000 US soldiers will remain in Afghanistan even after the cuts announced by Obama, about twice the number when he took office.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai welcomed the plan for a gradual pullout and said Afghans increasingly trusted their security forces.
European nations which have contributed troops to the military effort against the Afghan Taliban insurgency said they would also proceed with phased reductions.
But the Taliban, resurgent a decade after being toppled from power following the September 11, 2001, attacks, dismissed the announcement and said only a full, immediate withdrawal of foreign forces could stop "pointless bloodshed."
They rejected any suggestion of US military gains.
Obama vowed that the United States - struggling to restore its global image, shore up the economy and reduce unemployment at home - would exercise new restraint with military power.
"Tonight, we take comfort in knowing that the tide of war is receding," Obama said in a 15-minute statement on prime-time television, heralding the gradual reduction of US forces in Iraq and limited US involvement in the air campaign against Libya.
"America, it is time to focus on nation building at home," he said.
The US also plans to pull back hundreds of civilian advisers helping govern Afghanistan and cuts in aid are also likely.
The Taliban have been pushed out of some areas of their southern heartland, but the insurgency has intensified along Afghanistan's eastern border with Pakistan and US commanders expected to shift their focus to that area.
Drawdown
France, Germany and Poland said they would proceed with a gradual drawdown.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he would oversee a pullout "in a proportional manner and in a calendar comparable to the withdrawal of American reinforcements."
German Defense Minister Guido Westerwelle said his country hoped by the end of the year "to be able to reduce our own troop contingent for the first time."
Poland's General Stanislaw Koziej said Warsaw's strategy "is similar to Obama's."
British Prime Minister David Cameron said the US drawdown did not mean any letup against the insurgency.
Obama's plan to withdraw 10,000 troops by the end of the year and a further 23,000 by the end of next summer won immediate support from France's president, who promised to follow suit.
However, about 70,000 US soldiers will remain in Afghanistan even after the cuts announced by Obama, about twice the number when he took office.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai welcomed the plan for a gradual pullout and said Afghans increasingly trusted their security forces.
European nations which have contributed troops to the military effort against the Afghan Taliban insurgency said they would also proceed with phased reductions.
But the Taliban, resurgent a decade after being toppled from power following the September 11, 2001, attacks, dismissed the announcement and said only a full, immediate withdrawal of foreign forces could stop "pointless bloodshed."
They rejected any suggestion of US military gains.
Obama vowed that the United States - struggling to restore its global image, shore up the economy and reduce unemployment at home - would exercise new restraint with military power.
"Tonight, we take comfort in knowing that the tide of war is receding," Obama said in a 15-minute statement on prime-time television, heralding the gradual reduction of US forces in Iraq and limited US involvement in the air campaign against Libya.
"America, it is time to focus on nation building at home," he said.
The US also plans to pull back hundreds of civilian advisers helping govern Afghanistan and cuts in aid are also likely.
The Taliban have been pushed out of some areas of their southern heartland, but the insurgency has intensified along Afghanistan's eastern border with Pakistan and US commanders expected to shift their focus to that area.
Drawdown
France, Germany and Poland said they would proceed with a gradual drawdown.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he would oversee a pullout "in a proportional manner and in a calendar comparable to the withdrawal of American reinforcements."
German Defense Minister Guido Westerwelle said his country hoped by the end of the year "to be able to reduce our own troop contingent for the first time."
Poland's General Stanislaw Koziej said Warsaw's strategy "is similar to Obama's."
British Prime Minister David Cameron said the US drawdown did not mean any letup against the insurgency.
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