WarAfghanistan: Karzai & Obama meet: USA is movin' on out

The USA is following the actions of many NATO partners in shutting down gradually its involvement in the Afghanistan War.  The bilateral negotiations that involve only Afghanistan represented by President Hamid Karzai and the USA in the person of President Barack Obama did not diminish the ability of the two leaders to enjoy some liter moments, as in the foto below.  A small group of USA troops may remain in Afghanistan under Afghani leadership past 2014, if Karsai is successful in winning impunity for these residual soldiers shoud any untoward actions or accidents take place.  "Impunity" is this case woud mean that neither military nor civilian Afghani courts coud criminalize the USA soldiers in these cicrcumstances.  The withdrawal has been speeded up because of Karzai's and Afghanistan's refusal to grant remaining USA soldiers this impunity.

— Politicarp, refWrite Frontpage newspotter, analyst, columnist


Washington Post (Jan12,2k3)

Obama announces reduced U.S. role in Afghanistan starting this spring

by Scott Wilson and David Nakamura, Published: January 11

President Obama moved Friday toward a faster reduction of U.S. forces in Afghanistan and laid the groundwork with Afghan President Hamid Karzai for a small troop presence in the country after the American mission formally ends there in 2014.

Obama and Karzai, leaders who have often been at odds in recent years, brought into sharper focus the American endgame for its longest war. Appearing after a series of morning meetings, the two outlined steps to wind down the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan over the next two years, a show of unity that excluded any talk of new ambitions.

Video

As President Obama announces a shift in the U.S. role in Afghanistan, we talk to the Woodrow Wilson Center's Michael Kugelman about a potential economy booster lying under the surface of the embattled country.

Speaking at the White House, Obama said Afghan forces would take the lead in securing the country this spring, several months ahead of what had been planned at a NATO summit last year.

Karzai also clarified his intention to eliminate a key obstacle to preserving some U.S. forces in Afghanistan beyond 2014, pledging to “go to the Afghan people and argue for immunity for U.S. troops in Afghanistan.” Obama’s inability to reach an immunity agreement, which protects U.S. forces from foreign prosecution, prevented him from keeping any troops in Iraq.

Although Obama did not say explicitly that the accelerated transition would allow him to more quickly pull the remaining 66,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan, he made clear that the “nature of our work” in the country after nearly a dozen years of war would soon change.

“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. “At the end of this conflict, we are going to be able to say that the sacrifices that were made by those men and women in uniform has brought about the goal that we sought.”

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