Obama: Plans on Track to start leaving Afganistan Next Year

[samplegirl]

Speaking to Australian television, President Obama says things are getting better in Afghanistan and we can’t stay there in perpetuity.

Afghanistan is likely to be a key topic for discussion when he holds talks with leaders in Australia, which has some 1,500 troops in the country – the largest single contingent outside NATO – and has suffered 11 combat deaths.

Obama said the war in Afghanistan remained a difficult task but that there had been positive trends recently.

But combat deaths and violence have been rising.

Obama reiterated his plan to begin drawing down U.S. troops in 2011 and handing responsibility for security to domestic forces in Afghanistan.

“We can’t be there in perpetuity,” he said. “Neither the American people nor the Australian people should be asked to carry that burden any longer than it needs to be carried.”

http://www.alan.com/

[lonestarnot]

1. Too bad we can't start that savings today. We could use that money for jobs.

:thumbsdown:

[frylock]

2. things are getting better in afghanistan despite rising combat deaths and violence?

hokay then chief. :wtf:

[elocs]

3. Ultimately Afghanis need to shoulder the burden of fighting and dying for their own country.

That is, if they want it badly enough. The Taliban and al Qeda are not an unstoppable force. If the Afghanis cannot win and maintain control of their own country while being supported with arms by the most powerful nation on the planet, then they do not really want their own country as badly as the Taliban and al Qeda want it.

Yes, there is no reason why Americans should be expected to fight and die for someone else's country in perpetuity.