Barack Obama and Hamid Karzai

“ But what we have also been very clear about is that, from our perspective, it is not possible to reconcile without the Taliban renouncing terrorism, without them recognizing the Afghan constitution and recognizing that if there are changes that they want to make to how the Afghan government operates, then there is a orderly constitutional process to do that and that you can't resort to violence.
The Afghan constitution protects the rights of Afghan women. And the United States strongly believes that Afghanistan cannot succeed unless it gives opportunity to its women. ”

“ And today, we agreed that as Afghan forces take the lead and as President Karzai announces the final phase of the transition, coalition forces will move to a support role this spring. Our troops will continue to fight alongside Afghans, when needed. But let me say it as plainly as I can: Starting this spring, our troops will have a different mission -- training, advising, assisting Afghan forces. It will be an historic moment and another step toward full Afghan sovereignty -- something I know that President Karzai cares deeply about, as do the Afghan people. ”

“ We agreed on allowing a Taliban office in Qatar -- in Doha, where the Taliban will engage in direct talks with the representatives of the Afghan High Council for Peace, where we will be seeking the help of relevant regional countries, including Pakistan -- where we’ll be trying our best, together with the United States and our other allies, to return peace and stability to Afghanistan as soon as possible, and employing all the means that we have within our power to do that, so the Afghan people can live in security and peace and work for their prosperity and educate their children. ”

“ Now, what we also recognized very early on was that it was in our national security interest to have a stable, sovereign Afghanistan that was a responsible international actor, that was in partnership with us, and that that required Afghanistan to have its own security capacity and to be on a path that was more likely to achieve prosperity and peace for its own people. ”

“ Once the transition to Afghan forces is completed, once the bulk of the international forces have withdrawn from Afghanistan, we hope that the dividends of that transition economically to Afghanistan will be beneficial to the Afghan people, and will not have adverse effects on Afghan economy and the prosperity that we have gained in the past many years. ”

“ On elections, for me, the greatest of my achievements, eventually, seen by the Afghan people will be a proper, well-organized, interference-free election in which the Afghan people can elect their next president. ”

“ Scott, our first task has been to meet the transition plan that we set first in Lisbon, then in Chicago. And because of the progress that’s been made by our troops, because of the progress that’s been made in terms of Afghan security forces, their capacity to take the lead, we are able to meet those goals and accelerate them somewhat.
So let me repeat: What’s going to happen this spring is that Afghans will be in the lead throughout the country. That doesn’t mean that coalition forces, including U.S. forces, are no longer fighting. They will still be fighting alongside Afghan troops. ”

“ We also discussed the issue of election in Afghanistan and the importance of election for the Afghan people, with the hope that we’ll be conducting a free and fair election in Afghanistan where our friends in the international community -- in particular, the United States -- will be assisting in conducting those elections, of course; where Afghanistan will have the right environment for conducting elections without interference and without undue concern in that regard for the Afghan people. ”

“ This includes deepening ties of trade, commerce, strengthening institutions, development, education and opportunities for all Afghans -- men and women, boys and girls. And this sends a clear message to Afghans and to the region, as Afghans stand up, they will not stand alone; the United States, and the world, stands with them. ”

“ President Karzai and I also discussed the nature of our security cooperation after 2014. Our teams continue to work toward a security agreement. And as they do, they will be guided by our respect for Afghan sovereignty, and by our two long-term tasks, which will be very specific and very narrow -- first, training and assisting Afghan forces and, second, targeting counterterrorism missions -- targeted counterterrorism missions against al Qaeda and its affiliates. ”

“ Do you have any sense of how many troops you would be willing to have?
PRESIDENT KARZAI: That’s not for us to decide. It’s an issue for the United States. Numbers are not going to make a difference to the situation in Afghanistan. It’s the broader relationship that will make a difference to Afghanistan and, beyond, in the region. The specifics of numbers are issues that the military will decide, and Afghanistan will have no particular concern when we are talking of numbers and how they are deployed.
Any Afghan press? ”

“ Ultimately, security gains must be matched by political progress. So we recommitted our nations to a reconciliation process between the Afghan government and the Taliban. President Karzai updated me on the Afghan government’s road map to peace. And today, we agreed that this process should be advanced by the opening of a Taliban office to facilitate talks.
Reconciliation also requires constructive support from across the region, including Pakistan. ”

“ Obviously, we will still have troops there and that means that our men and women will still be in harm’s way, that there will still be the need for force protection. The environment is going to still be very dangerous. But what we’ve seen is, is that Afghan soldiers are stepping up, at great risk to themselves, and that allows us then to make this transition during the spring. ”

“ And with respect to Pakistan and safe havens there, Afghanistan and the United States and Pakistan all have an interest in reducing the threat of extremism in some of these border regions between Afghanistan and Pakistan. ”

“ They will be designing and shaping a responsible plan to make sure that we’re not losing the gains that have already been made, to make sure that we’re in a position to support Afghan units when they’re in theater, and to make sure that our folks are also protected even as we’re drawing down. ”

“ What that translates into precisely in terms of how this drawdown of U.S. troop proceeds is something that isn’t yet fully determined. I’m going to be over the coming weeks getting recommendations from General Allen and other commanders on the ground. ”