March 19, 2009
In accordance with his campaign pledge, Obama put in place a plan to end US combat operations in Iraq in 18 months. He also ordered the deployment of 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan to bolster the military presence against a strengthened Taliban.
Image: Obama is mobbed by the audience after speaking at a town hall meeting at the Orange County Fair and Event Center in Costa Mesa, California.
Photograph: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters
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