34,000 More Troops To Leave Afghanistan
About time
An Obama administration senior official said Tuesday that during the president's State of the Union address he will announce that 34,000 of the 66,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan will be brought back to the United States within 12 months.
By this spring, a senior administration official said, Afghan forces will be "assuming the lead across the entire country, with the United States and ISAF (the International Security Assistance Force) stepped back to a train-advise-and-assist role. In that capacity, we will no longer be leading combat operations, but will provide support to the Afghans" during the 2013 and 2014 fighting seasons.