U.S. President Barack Obama on Saturday said for the first time that his goal is to end the type of U.S. combat missions now under way in Afghanistan by the end of 2014, although it’s “hard to anticipate” the exact American role by then.
“There may still be extensive cooperation with the Afghan armed services to consolidate the security environment,” Mr. Obama told reporters at the conclusion of two days of NATO meetings.
He said that the goal was similar to the U.S. transition from the lead combat role in Iraq, and that he envisioned a “training and support function” for the U.S. and its European allies lasting beyond 2014.
“My goal is to make sure that, by 2014, we have transitioned, Afghans are in the lead, and it is a goal to make sure that we are not still engaged in combat operations of the sort that we’re involved with now,” Mr. Obama said.
“Certainly, our footprint will have been significantly reduced. But beyond that, you know, it’s hard to anticipate exactly what is going to be necessary,” Mr. Obama told reporters at the conclusion of two days of meetings of the trans—Atlantic alliance.
Later a senior U.S. official sought to clarify Mr. Obama’s remarks, and said the President’s goal still remains to end combat missions in Afghanistan by 2014. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
NATO has more than 150,000 troops based in Afghanistan, including at least 100,000 Americans. NATO on Friday signed an agreement with Afghanistan to control the country’s security until 2014 and then assist with its logistics, training and advising.
Mr. Obama said he wanted to make sure that after extraordinary efforts “by so many countries we don’t want to have to suddenly find ourselves in a situation where they (al—Qaida and the Taliban) waited us out, they reconsolidated.”
The President also welcomed Russia’s pledge to work with NATO on efforts to build a missile—defence system to protect Europe against a possible missile attack, presumably from Iran, saying it turns a “source of past tension into a source of shared cooperation.”
After a meeting of the 28 NATO members and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Mr. Obama told reporters, “together, we’ve worked hard to reset the relations between the United States and Russia. Now we’re also resetting the NATO relationship with Russia.”
Mr. Obama also used the occasion to prod Republicans in the U.S. Senate to stop standing in the way of a new nuclear arms reduction pact with Russia. He suggested GOP efforts to delay action on the New START treaty could threaten that resent, saying it would leave “a partner hanging” at a time when the U.S. was seeking to improve relations with Moscow.
Mr. Obama said European allies told him that the stalled treaty is critical to U.S.—European security.
He said he was confident the U.S. can go ahead with Afghan troop transition starting July 2011 with the goal of an end to combat operations by the end of 2014. “We are in a better place now than we were a year ago,” Mr. Obama said.
Mr. Medvedev agreed to involve Russian technicians in development work on such a missile shield network but stopped short of joining NATO’s invitation to join the missile shield system itself.
