The last of the 33,000 US soldiers that President Barack Obama sent to Afghanistan nearly three years ago as part of a military surge have left the country, US defense officials said Thursday.
The withdrawal, which began in July, follows an unprecedented number of NATO soldiers being shot dead by their Afghan colleagues — 51 so far this year — and comes as anti-Western protests sweep Muslim countries.
There are still some 68,000 US military forces in Afghanistan, as well as some 40,000 from NATO’s ISAF coalition. The US-led effort to contain the Taliban insurgency involves a phased withdrawal of troops as newly trained Afghan forces take their place. The plan is for Afghans to take charge of their own security by the end of 2014. The temporary increase in troops helped Western-led forces regain ground in Afghanistan’s south and southwest against the Taliban, which has now stepped up attacks in the eastern region bordering Pakistan. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the surge had met its goals of reversing the Taliban’s momentum and “dramatically” increasing the size and capability of Afghan security forces.
“At the same time, we have struck enormous blows against Al-Qaeda’s leadership, consistent with our core goal of disrupting, dismantling and defeating Al-Qaeda and denying it a safe-haven,” he said in a statement. However, he stressed that with tens of thousands of US troops still engaged in a tough fight in Afghanistan, “We are a nation at war.” “But the international community is also strongly united behind our shared strategy to transition to Afghan security control,” he added.
Decisions are pending on the pace of future withdrawals.
On Tuesday, NATO announced that it would limit joint operations with Afghan forces, marking a setback to the US-led strategy for containing the decade-old Taliban insurgency. Australian Brigadier-General Roger Noble, deputy to ISAF’s operations chief, said the string of insider attacks had been dispiriting.
Noble said the decision to scale back joint operations was “just normal military business and common sense,” and insisted it would not derail the drawdown effort. “The campaign remains on track to achieve its objectives,” Noble told Pentagon reporters, speaking from Kabul.
Even after 33,000 have left, the total is 108,000 (US+NATO) Noble said the it was “just normal military business and common sense. Common sense is very rare – only noble minds have it. Australian Brigadier-General Roger Noble, deputy to ISAF’s operations chief, said the string of insider attacks had been dispiriting. General Roger Noble leave Afghanistanan let the US face the Talban alone. I am convinced that the Americans will follow you and will be backhome before you reach Australia. NATO soldiers being shot dead by their Afghan colleagues — 51 so far this year! Even a layman like me can foresee the Taliban back in control only 10 years after the US-lead invasion provoked by a jewish plot to effect 9/11 and blame OBL for it. OBL was totally incapable of effecting 9/11. The US were puppets in jewish hands and now will return defeated and beaten after a decade of bombing, drone attacks, daisy cutter showering, killing innocent men, women and children. The two winners of this decade-long useles war are the Taliban and the manufacturers of miltary weaponry. So much for Us adventurism at the cost its taxpaying citizens, families of US men and Afghans killed or injured. Useless, bloody, insane adventurism to sum up. Regards.
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