US to begin withdrawal of Afghan troops in 2011

The United States would begin a "responsible, conditions-based" withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in July 2011, President Barack Obama's Af-Pak review said on Thurday, while acknowledging that the gains achieved in the war-torn country remained "fragile" and "reversible".

The overview of the annual review on Afghanistan and Pakistan also asserts that the US' main objectives in Afghanistan are to deny safe haven to al-Qaeda and to deny the Taliban the ability to overthrow the Afghan government.

"As a result of our integrated efforts in 2010, we are setting the conditions... to begin a responsible, conditions-based US troop reduction in July 2011," the review said.

Noting that it is determined to achieve the target of complete transition of security to Afghan forces by 2014, the White House said the US is committed for a long term presence in Afghanistan which has been a victim of instability and civil war for three decades now.

At the recent NATO Lisbon Summit, world countries forged a broad Afghan and international consensus, agreeing on a path to complete transition by the end of 2014, it noted.

"Beyond these targets, and even after we draw down our combat forces, the US will continue to support Afghanistan's development and security as a strategic partner, just as the NATO-Afghanistan partnership affirms the broader and enduring international community support to Afghanistan," the report said.

According to the review report, the surge in coalition military and civilian resources along with an expanded special operations forces targeting campaign and expanded local

security measures at the village level, has reduced overall Taliban influence and arrested the momentum that the militants had achieved in recent years in key parts of the country.

"Progress is most evident in the gains Afghan and coalition forces are making in clearing the Taliban heartland of Kandahar and Helmand provinces, and in the significantly increased size and improved capability of the Afghan National Security Forces," it said.

"While the momentum achieved by the Taliban in recent years has been arrested in much of the country and reversed in some key areas, these gains remain fragile and reversible.

Consolidating those gains will require that we make more progress with Pakistan to eliminate sanctuaries for violent extremist networks," the report said.

It acknowledged that it will take time to eventually defeat al-Qaeda and said Pakistan and Afghanistan "continue to be the operational base for the group that attacked us on

9/11."