US not abandoning Afghanistan, says Kerry

Secretary of State John Kerry today said the US was not abandoning Afghanistan, a day after President Barack Obama announced that all American troops would leave the war-torn country by the end of 2016.
"This is not an abandonment of Afghanistan. It is an emboldenment; it is an empowerment of Afghanistan. And it is a way to put the Afghans on the track to do what they should do for themselves at this point in time," Kerry told NBC in an interview.
Yesterday, Obama had announced that by the beginning of 2015, the US would have some 9,000 troops in Afghanistan and would be reduced to half by the end of 2015, while by the end of 2016, the US would return to normal embassy operations.

The US has already announced an end to all its combat operation by the end of this year.
Currently it has about 30,000 troops in Afghanistan.
"What it really is is a statement of transition that is appropriate to the timing as expressed by the military and the generals and by the situation on the ground in Afghanistan," Kerry said in another interview to CBS News.

"What the President is doing is giving the Afghans the opportunity to be able to run, manage, defend, fight for their own country. And the fact is that everything that we have achieved since 2009 when the President came in and there was no policy in Afghanistan, Afghanistan was adrift because all of the focus had been shifted to Iraq, including many of the resources," he said.

"So the President focused on Afghanistan and he set dates. He set targets. He said that by a specific time, the Afghans have to take over their own security. They did. He said that by a specific time, they have to run an election and provide the security for that election. They did.
"Now, he is telling them by a specific time, they have to take over their own management of their own security and military," Kerry said in response to a question.
Kerry said that the US is ending the war in Afghanistan, with a victory.
"I think it's ending, and the best thing you can do, which is give the Afghans the opportunity to decide their own future. This is their country. They have to want to fight for it. They have to be prepared to fight for it. And right now, they are," he said.

Kerry said the fact is that everything that has been accomplished in Afghanistan in the last five years has been accomplished with a deadline.
"When President Obama came in, there was no policy. The President increased the troops, put a policy in place, and set a deadline for the Afghans to be able to take over security. Guess what? They met the deadline," he said.
"The fact is if you tell the Afghans we're going to be there as long as it takes, believe me, they will take as long as they want. It is only by setting a target that you can ultimately shift responsibility," Kerry said.