President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai yesterday agreed to speed up the schedule for moving Afghanistan’s security forces into the lead across the country, with US troops shifting fully to a support role.
The leaders also said Mr Obama agreed to place battlefield detainees under the control of the Afghan Government.
Mr Obama, appearing at the White House with Mr Karzai at his side, said accelerating the transition to Afghan security control this spring would set the stage for further withdrawal of US and other foreign forces, although he did not say how quickly a US drawdown would be carried out this year and next.
There are now 66,000 US troops there.
“Starting this spring our troops will have a different mission: training, advising and assisting Afghan forces,” Mr Obama said. “It will be a historic moment.”
He added later that even in a back-up role he could not rule out that US troops could be drawn into combat. But he emphasised that their main role would be support, such as training and advising.
Mr Karzai said he was pleased by the agreement, in part because it means that by spring there will be no foreign troops in Afghan villages.
Asked about the decision to accelerate the transition to Afghan security control – a shift that previously was scheduled to happen this summer – Mr Obama said it was not yet clear what it would mean for the pace of US troop withdrawals this year.
He said that was “something that isn’t yet fully determined” and is awaiting further internal deliberation.
Casting the move in a positive light, Mr Obama said plans remain on schedule to have Afghan forces fully responsible for security nationwide by the end of December 2014 – with no back-up, theoretically, by US or other international forces – at which point, “this war will come to a responsible end”.
The capabilities of the Afghan army are “exceeding initial expectations”, the two said in a joint statement released after their private meeting and working lunch and in advance of a joint news conference.
As a result, Mr Obama said he acceded to Mr Karzai’s desire to put Afghan forces in the combat lead across his country this spring, rather than wait until summer.
The leaders said they discussed the possibility of a continued US troop presence beyond December 2014, when the US and allied combat mission is to end. But they did not settle on any specifics.