Obama planning full pullout of troops from Afghanistan

The Obama administration’s plan of a possible withdrawal of all US troops from within Afghanistan has been announced on Tuesday.

16:43 25 February 2014

It has been announced that UK President Obama’s administration has started planning for the possible withdrawal of all the US troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year pending the result of a security agreement.

Combat operations are expected to conclude later this year and yet, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai is still refusing to sign the agreement that would keep several thousand American troops in the country.

The White House statement read: "President Obama has asked the Pentagon to ensure that it has adequate plans in place to accomplish an orderly withdrawal by the end of the year should the United States not keep any troops in Afghanistan after 2014.”

"Should we have a BSA (Bilateral Security Agreement) and a willing and committed partner in the Afghan government, a limited post-2014 mission focused on training, advising, and assisting Afghan forces and going after the remnants of core al Qaeda could be in the interests of the United States and Afghanistan. Therefore, we will leave open the possibility of concluding a BSA with Afghanistan later this year."