UK: Obama and Cameron pledge cooperation on Afghanistan withdrawl

The Guardian

Obama and Cameron pledge not to delay Afghanistan withdrawal

US lays on lavish reception for British prime minister as Barack Obama shores up support ahead of looming Iran crisis
By Nicholas Watt

British and American forces remain on track to pull back from lead combat missions in Afghanistan next year, Barack Obama and David Cameron declared at the White House on Wednesday.

The leaders of the countries with the largest number of troops in Afghanistan said the recent violence would not derail their plans to ensure that all combat troops are withdrawn by the end of 2014.

Obama and Cameron's display of unity on Afghanistan came during a visit in which the US president pushed the boundaries of protocol, bestowing on Cameron a lavish state dinner at the White House and issuing his most enthusiastic endorsement yet of the "rock solid" Anglo-American special relationship.

The purpose was clear: Obama wants to work closely with Britain and other European allies as he prepares for what may be the main foreign policy crisis of his presidency – a possible Israeli attack on Iran.

After a morning of talks at the White House, Obama and Cameron appeared at a joint press conference in the Rose Garden. On Afghanistan, the US president said: "Our forces are making very real progress: dismantling al-Qaida; breaking the Taliban's momentum; and training Afghan forces so that they can take the lead and our troops can come home."

Obama, who has pledged to withdraw the remaining 23,000 "surge" troops he sent to Afghanistan by this September, said that the Nato summit in Chicago in May would agree the timetable for the transition to Afghan forces.

The president said: "At the upcoming Nato summit in my hometown of Chicago, we'll determine the next phase of transition. This includes shifting to a support role next year, in 2013, in advance of Afghans taking full responsibility for security in 2014. We're going to complete this mission, and we're going to do it responsibly."

But Obama said that Nato would not be turning its back on Afghanistan. "Nato will maintain an enduring commitment so that Afghanistan never again becomes a haven for al-Qaida to attack our countries."

The two leaders are determined to stick to the timetable agreed in outline at a Nato summit in 2010. Obama needs to go into November's presidential election saying he has ended two wars started under his predecessor, George Bush. Cameron is dealing with rising opposition to the Afghan war.

But Obama said he is under no illusions about the challenge ahead as he said there had to be a political strategy in which Afghanistan's different ethnic groups recognise that they should end 30 years of war. "We can't be naïve about the difficulties that are going to be involved in getting there," he said.

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