Afghans cheer, fear U.S. exit plan
Karzai had pushed for the quick drawdown, but others said the country was not ready.
KABUL, Afghanistan - President Obama's decision to bring half of America's 66,000 troops home within a year was welcomed Wednesday by Afghan officials who have long agitated to control their country but was greeted with dismay by Afghans who think the United States failed to keep its promise of a better and safer life.
A troop drawdown was widely expected, but for the first time, Obama said how many. For some Afghans, Obama's State of the Union address underscored the reality that foreign troops were leaving - and sooner than expected.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai viewed the announcement as good news. He has pushed for a faster withdrawal of international troops, arguing that his country is sovereign and should control its own fate.
He persuaded NATO to agree on a 2014 deadline for the departure of foreign combat troops two years ago. He and Obama also agreed last month for Afghan troops to take the lead for security around the country this spring - months ahead of schedule - as foreign forces take the backseat and shift to an advisory and training role.
"This is something Afghanistan has wanted for so long now," Karzai's office said.
He also applauded Obama's commitment to speed up the timetable for handing over the lead for security to Afghan forces. "The withdrawal in the spring of foreign forces from Afghan villages will definitely help in ensuring peace and full security in Afghanistan."
Obama said the first 34,000 troops would leave Afghanistan within a year.
No decision has been made about how many U.S. troops could remain in the country after December 2014, when most foreign forces will have left. Administration officials have said they are considering a residual U.S. troop presence of as few as 3,000 and as many as 15,000.
The Afghan Defense Ministry said it was prepared for the responsibility.
Some Afghans disagreed and said they were taken aback that so many U.S. troops would leave before the 2014 deadline. Persistent violence and a spate of so-called insider attacks by Afghan troops against their foreign partners have raised concern about the readiness of government forces to take over their own security.
The Taliban welcomed the drawdown but said the entire coalition should leave immediately.
Many Afghans fear that any quick drawdown will destabilize a country still fighting insurgents more than 11 years after the U.S. invasion. More important, many think the United States has not fulfilled what they perceive was a promise to leave Afghanistan safe and economically stable.
"America decided to come to Afghanistan, they decided to stay in Afghanistan, and now they are about to make the other decision to leave Afghanistan," said military analyst Abdul Hadi Khalid, a former deputy interior minister. "Unfortunately, they are leaving us with many challenges."