Obama: US to Keep Pressure on Al-Qaida

Posted June 29th, 2011 at 1:20 pm (UTC-5)
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President Obama says the United States will continue to keep pressure on al-Qaida, even as U.S. forces draw down in Afghanistan.

The president made the statement during a lengthy news conference Wednesday in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Obama said 33,000 U.S. troops will be out of Afghanistan within a year. Those troops were sent to the country as part of a surge Mr. Obama announced in December of 2009. The United States currently has about 100,000 troops in Afghanistan.

Mr. Obama told reporters Wednesday the United States is drawing down its forces in a responsible way. He said the “tide of war is receding” to a phase that will allow Afghanistan to defend itself and give the U.S. the operational capacity to continue to put pressure on al-Qaida until it is defeated. He said the terror network is already severely crippled.

Mr. Obama also said it is in the U.S. national interest that the government of Afghanistan survive because he said a collapse could give al-Qaida a chance to rebuild. Mr. Obama said the troop drawdown comes after 10 “very long” years of war.