Obama: 30,000 more troops, exit start date

WEST POINT, N.Y., Dec. 1 (UPI) -- The 68,000 U.S. troops already in Afghanistan will be joined by 30,000 more U.S. forces by next summer, President Barack Obama said Tuesday.

After a months-long review, "I have determined that it is in our vital national interest to send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan. After 18 months, our troops will begin to come home," Obama said in a prime time national speech Tuesday from the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y.

"These are the resources that we need to seize the initiative, while building the Afghan capacity that can allow for a responsible transition of our forces out of Afghanistan," Obama said in his speech broadcast to military installations at home and abroad.

The additional troops will increase U.S. training of competent Afghan security forces and "to partner with them so that more Afghans can get into the fight," Obama said. "And they will help create the conditions for the United States to transfer responsibility to the Afghans."

The overarching goal remains the same, Obama said, "to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaida in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and to prevent its capacity to threaten America and our allies in the future."

To meet that goal, Obama said, forces must deny al-Qaida a safe haven, reverse the Taliban's momentum and strengthen the capacity of Afghanistan's security forces and government so that they can assume responsibility for the country's future.

The United States will meet the objectives in three ways, headlined by a military strategy "that will break the Taliban's momentum and increase Afghanistan's capacity over the next 18 months," Obama said.

Second, the United States will work with its allies, the United Nations, and the Afghan people "to pursue a more effective civilian strategy so that the government can take advantage of improved security," Obama said. "The days of providing a blank check are over."

Third, "we will act with the full recognition that our success in Afghanistan is inextricably linked to our partnership with Pakistan," Obama said. "In the past, we too often defined our relationship with Pakistan narrowly. Those days are over. Moving forward, we are committed to a partnership with Pakistan that is built on a foundation of mutual interests, mutual respect and mutual trust."

Because the military effort in Afghanistan is an international one, "I have asked that our commitment be joined by contributions from our allies," Obama said.

"Taken together, these additional American and international troops will allow us to accelerate handing over responsibility to Afghan forces, and allow us to begin the transfer of our forces out of Afghanistan in July of 2011," Obama said.

Obama also repeated his position that a U.S. combat force commitment in Afghanistan was not open-ended.

Obama said he weighed all comments and criticisms as he developed the strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"I do not make this decision lightly. I make this decision because I am convinced that our security is at stake in Afghanistan and Pakistan," Obama said. "This is the epicenter of violent extremism practiced by al-Qaida. It is from here that we were attacked on (Sept. 11, 2001), and it is from here that new attacks are being plotted as I speak."