This is an important point to address, since several other posters have made similar arguments, and claimed that the 'US has achieved victory by killing OBL'.
What are the 'stated goals' of the US in Afghanistan? If the 'stated goal' was to just 'kill/capture OBL', then what is the US still doing fighting in Afghanistan and making statements about a US military presence beyond 2014?
A good place to start...
Washington — President Obama says the U.S. mission in Afghanistan will be successful if U.S. forces leave behind a country where the Afghan government and people can provide for their own security, and al-Qaida is unable to attack the United States, its allies or its overseas interests.
Speaking in a June 29 press conference at the White House, Obama said both goals are meeting with success as the United States prepares to draw down 10,000 troops by the end of 2011, and an additional 23,000 by the end of summer 2012.
“The tide of war is receding. We have shifted to a transition phase,” the president said.
Even before al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan on May 2, Obama said, U.S. forces were able to severely cripple the organization’s capacities and had eliminated some in its middle and upper leadership ranks.
“They are having a great deal of difficulty operating, a great deal of difficulty communicating and financing themselves, and we are going to keep the pressure on,” Obama said.
At the same time he said U.S. and international forces have been able to “ramp up” the training of Afghan troops, adding an additional 100,000 army and police since he announced a surge of U.S. forces in December 2009.
The newly trained Afghan security forces will add to the Afghanistan government’s capacity to defend the country and prevent a collapse that could allow extremist elements to take control of the country again, he said.
Obama said U.S. troops have also been drawn down from Iraq, with the remainder scheduled to leave by the end of 2011. Although Iraq has continued to face violent attacks, he said, it has “been able to maintain a democratic government and to tamp down violence there” without the need for American soldiers.
“We think a similar approach makes sense in Afghanistan,” he said.
“We will … draw them down in a responsible way that will allow Afghanistan to defend itself and will give us the operational capacity to continue to put pressure on al-Qaida until that network is entirely defeated,” he said.
Read more:
U.S. Goals in Afghanistan Are Meeting with Success, Obama Says | IIP Digital
