"The Beginning of the end of Afghan War"-President Obama

A file picture of President Obama with the Afghan troops in December 2010

President Obama on 22nd June, announced the starting of a series of withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, in what is seen as an attempt to bring the soldiers back home.In an official address to the US nation, he ordered the US military to withdraw 10,000 troops from the Afghan land by the end of the year and pull out another 23,000 by the summer of 2012. The President assured that by 2014, the process of transition will be completed, and "the people of Afghanistan will be responsible for their own security."

This announcement came with many reasons from the President. His first and foremost statement being that USA had been successful in dismantling the growing forces of the terrorist group Al Qaeda, and also "inflicting serious losses' to the extremist group. This reason comes after the killing of Al Qaeda leader, Osama Bin Laden by the US forces, in May 2011. The attempts to capture Osama had been one of the main targets of the US force and the success of that mission gave a new boost to Obama's administration altogether. 

The second reason to this withdrawal decision of the troops, has been the immense amount of money being already put for the forces out there. Nearly a trillion US dollars have been used by the States' on the war, especially during the times when the country had been struggling with harsh economic crisis. Over the years, the tax payers in USA had to pay a quantum more than they were supposed to, because of the war against terror. As Mr.Obama put it, saying-"Now. we must invest in America's greatest resource: our people."

According to a poll, around 73% of the US citizens agreed to the decision of the removal of forces from Afghanistan.

This move by the US administration comes at a time, when all the odds are in favour of the ruling party. The fact that in 2009, President Obama ordered a surge of 30,000 troops to be deployed to Afghanistan to incapacitate the growing terror, and then the simultaneous WikiLeaks war logs showing the shocking number of civilian deaths that took place during US' war on terror on the Afghan soil, had reached the epitome where people were questioning the result of army forces efforts there; all such questions had been pounding the White House door, and all of them received an answer on 22nd June. The promise that all troops will be called back by 2014 has lighted a ray of hope for the citizens of Afghanistan as well. The truth that, that nation has been burning under terror and increased corruption, might see a new dawn of independent governance. What follows is the functioning of a country without foreign forces patrolling its streets, and with all positive anticipation, Afghanistan may see the bright side of its existence once and for all.