Obama pledges to keep troops in Afghanistan beyond 2014

The US President Barack Obama said Sunday that Washington is prepared to maintain US forces presence in Afghanistan beyond 2014 to train and equip Afghan security forces and target al Qaeda.

Obama made a surprise Memorial Day weekend visit to Afghanistan late Sunday to meet with the US forces stationed in Afghanistan and to thank forces who are preparing to withdraw after nearly 13 years of war.

“I’ve made it clear that we’re prepared to continue cooperating with our Afghan partners on two security missions — training and equipping Afghan forces and targeting — counterterrorism targets against al Qaeda,” Obama said.

Obama said he was expecting that President Karzai’s successor will sign the bilateral security agreement between the two nations. “And once Afghanistan has sworn in its new president, I’m hopeful we’ll sign a bilateral security agreement that lets us move forward. And with that bilateral security agreement, assuming it is signed, we can plan for a limited military presence in Afghanistan beyond 2014.”

He said, “Because after all the sacrifices we’ve made, we want to preserve the gains that you have helped to win. And we’re going to make sure that Afghanistan can never again, ever, be used again to launch an attack against our country.

Obama also added that Afghan forces are growing stronger and have been in the lead; however he said they still got a long way to go.

“Think about last month’s election. Despite all the threats from the Taliban, the Afghan people refused to be terrorized. They registered to vote. Afghan security forces secured thousands of polling places. Then millions of Afghans lined up to cast their ballot,” Obama said.

Obama also added that next month’s runoff will be another step toward the first democratic transfer of power in Afghanistan.

He said, “That’s a tribute to the courage and determination of the people of Afghanistan. But it is also a tribute to you and the sacrifices of so many Americans and our coalition partners — everything that you’ve done over the years.”

Khaama

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