US President Barack Obama on Friday announced to withdraw all American forces from Iraq by the end of 2011. The much expected announcement was made by Obama at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and with this he has fulfilled one of his major promises he made to the people of the United States during his election campaign.
US President Barack Obama on Friday announced to withdraw all American forces from Iraq by the end of 2011. The much expected announcement was made by Obama at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and with this he has fulfilled one of his major promises he made to the people of the United States during his election campaign.
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Obama told the cheering crowd, "Let me say this as plainly as I can, by August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end.
Obama said that he has chosen a timeline to remove all the combat brigades over the next 18 months, however, the US mission in Iraq would still continue.
"After we remove our combat brigades, our mission will change from combat to supporting the Iraqi government and its Security Forces as they take the absolute lead in securing their country," Obama said.
"We will retain a transitional force to carry out three distinct functions: training, equipping and advising Iraqi Security Forces as long as they remain non-sectarian, conducting targeted counter-terrorism missions and protecting our ongoing civilian and military efforts within Iraq," he said.
He added, initially, this force will likely be made up of 35-50,000 US troops. "Through this period of transition, we will carry out further redeployments. And under the Status of Forces Agreement with the Iraqi government, I intend to remove all US troops from Iraq by the end of 2011. We will complete this transition to Iraqi responsibility and bring our troops home with the honor that they have earned," he said.
Obama says no 'long-term' Afghan presence
The United States has no desire for a 'long-term' military presence in Afghanistan despite plans to send more troops to the war-torn country, President Barack Obama has said.
"One of the things that I think we have to communicate in Afghanistan is that we have no interest or aspiration to be there over the long term," Obama said in an interview with PBS public television.
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