PEDASS XII-1 2012-2013

A US soldier from Viper Company (Bravo), 1-26 Infantry, standing on a guard tower as the sun rises at Combat Outpost (COP) Sabari in Khost province in the east of Afghanistan on Thursday. President Barack Obama ordered all 33,000 US surge troops home from Afghanistan by next summer and declared the beginning of the end of the war, vowing to turn to nation building at home. (AFP Photo)

Washington. President Barack Obama on Wednesday ordered all 33,000 US surge troops home from Afghanistan by next summer and declared the beginning of the end of the war, vowing to turn to nation building at home.

In a watershed moment for American foreign policy, Obama also significantly curtailed US war aims, saying Washington would no longer try to build a "perfect" Afghanistan from a nation traumatized by decades of war.

"Tonight, we take comfort in knowing that the tide of war is receding," Obama said in a 13-minute prime time speech at a time of rising fatigue over costly foreign wars among Americans ground down by deep economic insecurity.

"Even as there will be dark days ahead in Afghanistan, the light of a secure peace can be seen in the distance. These long wars will come to a responsible end," Obama said.

The president argued US forces had made large strides towards the objectives of the troop surge strategy he ordered in December 2009 by reversing Taliban momentum, crushing Al Qaeda and training new Afghan forces.

But he ultimately rejected appeals from the Pentagon for a slower drawdown to safeguard gains against the Taliban, and his decision will be seen as a political defeat for the US commander in Afghanistan General David Petraeus.

The president said he would, as promised, begin the US withdrawal this July and that 10,000 of the more than 30,000 troops he committed to the escalation of the conflict would be home this year.

A further 23,000 surge troops will be withdrawn by next summer, and more yet-to-be announced drawdowns will continue, until Afghan forces assume security responsibility in 2014.


"This is the beginning — but not the end — of our effort to wind down this war," Obama said.


However, despite Obama's stirring words, it is possible that the Taliban — which dismissed the announced withdrawal as a