Wednesday, June 22, 2011
I was driving through southern Pennsylvania, watching the sun set over West Virginia to my right, while I listened to President Obama's speech on Afghanistan over the radio.
The speech appealed to me in some ways but bothered me in others. On the one hand, I appreciate Obama's efforts to place emphasis upon the theme of withdrawal. He's setting expectations for continued withdrawal, rather than continued occupation, and that's a good thing.
Tonight, I can tell you that we are fulfilling that commitment. Thanks
to our men and women in uniform, our civilian personnel, and our many
coalition partners, we are meeting our goals. As a result, starting next
month, we will be able to remove 10,000 of our troops from Afghanistan
by the end of this year, and we will bring home a total of 33,000 troops
by next summer, fully recovering the surge I announced at West Point.
After this initial reduction, our troops will continue coming home at a
steady pace as Afghan Security forces move into the lead. Our mission
will change from combat to support. By 2014, this process of transition
will be complete, and the Afghan people will be responsible for their
own security.
Okay, good. No one expects the US to leave tomorrow. Personally, I was upset by the surge and wished, at the time it was announced, that Obama had instead focused on withdrawal. But what's done is done. While it's too bad that so many Americans seem to think that Osama bin Laden's death is the difference-maker with regard to whether or not the US should be occupying Afghanistan, at this point I welcome any pressure that Obama might put on his administration to get 'combat troops' out of there.
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