Karzai: US troops can't leave Afghanistan soon

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai said that with a resurgent Taliban, a still-flourishing drug trade and a border with Pakistan believed to be home base for the al-Qaeda, Afghanistan can't afford for US troops to leave any time soon.

"US forces will not be able to leave soon from Afghanistan because the task is not over," said Karzai in a TV interview scheduled to air on Sunday. "We have to defeat terrorism. We'll have to enable Afghanistan to stand on its own feet. We'll have to enable Afghanistan to be able to defend itself.

"Then, the United States can leave and, at that time, the Afghan people will give them plenty of flowers and gratitude and send them safely back home."

Karzai's comments come as US President Barack Obama plans to send another 30,000 US troops to fight what he's called the "central front in our enduring struggle against terrorism and extremism".

The Obama administration is conducting several reviews of US policy in Afghanistan. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said the original mission in Afghanistan was "too broad" and needs to be more "realistic and focused" for the United States to succeed.

He called for concrete goals that can be reached in three to five years.