NATO LISBON SUMMIT 2010
The significant issue of pulling out US troops from Afghanistan has been relatively long standing. At a conference in Lisbon, Portugal on Saturday, The United States of America and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies decided to set an ostensibly reasonable target date (the end of 2014) to withdraw US security forces and transfer complete control to Afghan security forces.
Notwithstanding, US president Barack Obama still maintained that allied presence in Afghanistan would not likely fade out completely by this date. He stated that depending on the circumstances at the time, US combat troops might still be stationed in Afghanistan, which does not lend much credence to the prospective success of fulfilling the aforementioned goals. Additionally, he affirmed that while the troops might be present after the due date, the practical aim is for them not to be involved in any combat operations beyond 2014.
Obama addressed concerns of all who think that US presence in Afghanistan has dragged on for too long by stating that he did not want the enemy combatants to win “simply because they waited us out”.
NATO allies of The United States recognized the implausibility of completely removing allied presence by the end of 2014 and thereby agreed that it was more viable and pragmatic to aim for a non-combative allied support role in Afghanistan beyond 2014, lasting as long as necessary.
Furthermore, NATO members accepted that even the above compromise was not written in stone, in that the non-combative allied role depended on Afghanistan’s effort to strengthen its own security forces; if there is not a significant enough increase in the efficiency and power of Afghan security, it is likely that allied forces, particularly US combat troops, will play more than a support role beyond the end of 2014.