By IANS,
Washington : Ten years after the US launched the war on terror in Afghanistan, President Barack Obama said Friday the US is “responsibly ending” the warfare despite the “enormous challenges” that remain there.
Obama marked the tenth anniversary of the Afghanistan war by honoring the nearly 1,800 American service members killed in the war and all those who have served there, according to a White House statement, reported Xinhua.
“In delivering justice to Osama bin Laden and many other Al Qaeda leaders, we are closer than ever to defeating Al Qaeda and its murderous network,” Obama said. “After a difficult decade, we are responsibly ending today’s wars from a position of strength.”
The anniversary came as the US began a critical transitional period of its Afghan war this summer. Under the timetable of Obama’s military withdrawal plan, the US forces began to pull out of Afghanistan in July, with an ultimate goal of transferring lead security responsibility to the Afghan forces by 2014.
Obama has repeatedly boasted the killing of bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leaders as major accomplishments of his anti-terrorism war and used it to justify its Afghan strategy including a significant troop boost in late 2009.
However, the situation in Afghanistan is far from safe and stable as seen from continuous attacks against US and NATO forces.
With the uncertainty of Afghan security situation on the one hand, Obama is also facing strong opposition from inside the US. Many questioned whether Obama’s withdrawal plan is a responsible approach to end the war, as the president alleged, or a quick exit out of internal political pressure.