Obama's speech on Afghanistan: Transcript
Updated 9:00 p.m. ET
President Obama laid out his plans for beginning to wind down the war in Afghanistan on Wednesday night, saying that 10,000 troops would come home by the end of this year, with an additional 23,000 coming home by next summer. "This is the beginning - but not the end - of our effort to wind down this war," he said. Watch the full speech above or read the full transcript, released by the White House, of his remarks below:
Obama: This is beginning of the end of the Afghanistan war
CBSNews.com Special Report: Afghanistan
Good evening. Nearly 10 years ago, America suffered the worst attack on our shores since Pearl Harbor. This mass murder was planned by Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network in Afghanistan, and signaled a new threat to our security -- one in which the targets were no longer soldiers on a battlefield, but innocent men, women and children going about their daily lives.
In the days that followed, our nation was united as we struck at al Qaeda and routed the Taliban in Afghanistan. Then, our focus shifted. A second war was launched in Iraq, and we spent enormous blood and treasure to support a new government there. By the time I took office, the war in Afghanistan had entered its seventh year. But al Qaeda's leaders had escaped into Pakistan and were plotting new attacks, while the Taliban had regrouped and gone on the offensive. Without a new strategy and decisive action, our military commanders warned that we could face a resurgent al Qaeda and a Taliban taking over large parts of Afghanistan.
For this reason, in one of the most difficult decisions that I've made as President, I ordered an additional 30,000 American troops into Afghanistan. When I announced this surge at West Point, we set clear objectives: to refocus on al Qaeda, to reverse the Taliban's momentum, and train Afghan security forces to defend their own country. I also made it clear that our commitment would not be open-ended, and that we would begin to draw down our forces this July.
Continue »Obama: The beginning of the end of the Afghan war
Updated at 9:07 p.m. ET
President Obama on Wednesday night informed the nation of his plans to withdraw 33,000 troops from Afghanistan by fall of next year, marking the beginning of the end of an increasingly unpopular war.
"The tide of war is receding," Mr. Obama said from the White House, promising that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will both come to a "responsible end."
Transcript of President Obama's remarks
CBSNews.com Special Report: Afghanistan
Ten thousand troops will leave Afghanistan by the end of this year, the president announced, with another 23,000 leaving no later than September 2012. That would leave roughly 68,000 American troops in Afghanistan to continue the decade-long war.
Mr. Obama struck an optimistic note about the ongoing fight, saying "the light of a secure peace can be seen in the distance." But he also acknowledged the great costs of the war, economic and otherwise - a cost many say the U.S. can no longer afford to bear.
"America, it is time to focus on nation building here at home," he said.
Continue »Dem senator: Change the mission in Afghanistan
In an interview with "CBS Evening News" anchor and managing editor Scott Pelley, the freshman senator from West Virginia said it's time to "go back to the war on terror."
"I'm looking at changing the mission," he said. "I truly have thought about this very long and hard. I think we have a war on terror, that is how we began in 2002, that's what we should go back. Staying there and to trying to build a nation that does not have an economy, does not have an infrastructure, and by all accounts have a corrupt government. How long would we have to be there and how many troops would it take in order to be successful?"
Continue »McCain: "Unnecessary risk" in Obama's Afghan plan
In an interview with "CBS Evening News" anchor and managing editor Scott Pelley, McCain added that it is "unfortunate" the president would go against "well-known recommendations" of military leaders.
CBS News reports the president will announce the U.S. will pull 10,000 troops out of Afghanistan by the end of this year and that all 33,000 surge troops will be out by September 2012.
"I think it's an unnecessary risk number one and I do believe it's unfortunate that it's well-known that the recommendations of outgoing Secretary Defense Gates and General [David] Petraeus and other military leaders were three to five thousand withdrawal and then a large withdrawal after the next fighting season in the spring and summer of 2012," McCain said.
Continue »After US drawdown, what's next for Afghanistan?
President Obama
On Tuesday, in his acceptance speech after reelection to a second term, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that, "as never before, the U.N. is on the front lines protecting people and also helping build the peace" in Afghanistan, among other places.
And Georgette Gagnon, the human rights director of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said this week that "more civilians were killed in Afghanistan in May than in any other month since 2007, raising fears of a further escalation during the summer with serious humanitarian implications."
Continue »Obama to say "surge" troops out by 2012 election
President Barack Obama
(Credit: AP Photo )UPDATED 4:50 p.m. ET
President Obama plans to tell the nation Wednesday night his "surge" of 33,000 troops sent to Afghanistan beginning in late 2009 will be withdrawn by September of next year, administration sources told CBS News, about two months before voters decide whether he will get another four years in office.
In his sixth address to the nation, Mr. Obama is expected to say about 5,000 troops will begin coming home this summer with an additional 5,000 troops by the end of this year. And roughly 23,000 additional troops are expected leave by September, 2012, the sources said. That would still leave about 70,000 troops in Afghanistan - roughly twice as many troops as when Mr. Obama took office in January 2009.
That timetable is more aggressive than some military advisers had urged. Mr. Obama made the final decision Tuesday after weighing options presented to him by General David Petraeus, his top commander in Afghanistan.
The September 2012 withdrawal date would mean that large numbers of troops would be coming out of Afghanistan during the summer of 2012 fighting season which stretches from spring to fall. The fighting season has traditionally been the time when U.S. forces try to put maximum pressure on the Taliban and other insurgents. Executing a withdrawal in the middle of that fighting season will complicate that mission.
Continue »Boehner cautions against sharp troop withdrawal
House Speaker John Boehner on Wednesday warned against "any precipitous withdrawal" of troops from Afghanistan ahead of President Obama's expected announcement that 30,000 "surge" troops would be coming home by the end of next year.
The nation's highest ranking Republican stressed that he would back the president's decision as long as Obama listens to military and diplomatic officials dedicated to the United States' efforts in Afghanistan.
"If the president listens to the commanders on the ground and our diplomats in the region," Bohener told reporters, "I'll be there to support him."
Continue »Obama to bring "surge" troops home by 2012's end
President Barack Obama
(Credit: AP Photo )President Obama's "surge" of 30,000 troops to Afghanistan announced in late 2009 was meant to be temporary, and Wednesday night the president is expected to announce that they will return home by around the time voters head to the polls to determine whether he gets another term.
In prime-time speech to the nation, Obama is expected to say about 5,000 troops will begin coming home this summer with an additional 5,000 troops by the end of this year, sources told CBS News. And about 20,000 more troops are expected to return to the United States by the end of 2012, the sources said. That would still leave about 70,000 troops in Afghanistan -- about twice as many troops as when Obama took office in January 2009.
Continue »How fast will Obama draw down Afghan troops?
President Obama is expected to announce a drawdown of some of the "surge" of 30,000 troops sent to Afghanistan in 2009.
President Obama plans to announce a substantial drawdown of troops from Afghanistan in a high profile speech in prime-time television Wednesday night, making good on his 2009 pledge to start bringing soldiers home by July 2011.
Mr. Obama coupled his decision to send a "surge" of 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan in 2009 with a promise to bring some of them home this summer.
"The president will keep the commitment he made in December of 2009 to begin the drawdown of U.S. forces from Afghanistan next month," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters on Tuesday.
The 8:00 p.m. ET speech will be the sixth address to the nation since taking office in January 2009, according to records kept by Mark Knoller of CBS News.
Continue »GOP Sen.: Romney could make GOP look like Carter
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
(Credit: CBS)"From the party's point of view, the biggest disaster would be to let Barack Obama become Ronald Reagan and our people become Jimmy Carter," said Graham, according to the Hill.
Romney said during Mondays' GOP presidential debate that the U.S. should "bring our troops home as soon as we possibly can," in a fashion that was consistent with the recommendations of commanders in the region, and argued that the U.S. couldn't "try and fight a war of independence for another nation."
"Only the Afghanis can win Afghanistan's independence from the Taliban," Romney said.
Continue »