Obama announces pullout plans
Wednesday 13 February 2013
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EmailUS president Barack Obama announced plans today to halve the number of US troops in Afghanistan within a year.
He used his State of the Union address to reveal his target to bring 34,000 of the 66,000 stationed in the country.
That's down from a peak of 100,000 in 2010.
Predecessor George W Bush's administration used the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks as a pretext to lead a Nato invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
Thousands of civilians are killed every year as a result of the drawn-out conflict.
The US claims it is aiming for a near-total pullout from resource-rich Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
Mr Obama also used his speech to try to rally support for gun ownership reforms, an immigration overhaul and higher taxes tied to increased government spending.
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