In an uncharacteristically relaxed meeting at the White House, US President Barack Obama and Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai discussed the future of US-Afghan relations and the process of withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan.
“By the end of next year, 2014, the transition will be complete,” Obama said at a news conference with Karzai standing at his side. “Afghans will have full responsibility for their security, and this war will come to a responsible end.” He added that the Afghan military is “stepping up” faster than initially anticipated. Consequently, Afghan troops will take over the lead in combat missions across the country this spring, rather than the summer as originally planned.
Whether or not a residual force will be left behind is still open to debate. The White House has indicated it is open to a complete withdrawal of any and all US troops from the region. However; it has also discussed the possibility of leaving behind 3,000 to 9,000 troops.
“We achieved our central goal … or have come very close to achieving our central goal, which is to de-capacitate al Qaeda, to dismantle them, to make sure that they can’t attack us again,” Obama said in response to the question of whether or not the war in Afghanistan was worthwhile. “Have we achieved everything that some might have imagined us achieving in the best of scenarios? Probably not,” he added. “This is a human enterprise, and you fall short of the ideal.”
Obama and Karzai also agreed that full control of detention centers within Afghanistan would be handed over to the Afghan government. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who was present at the 3 days of dialogue at the White House, stated, “After a long and difficult path, we finally are, I believe, at the last chapter of establishing an Afghanistan, a sovereign Afghanistan, that can govern and secure itself for the future.”
