Al-Qaeda is “carving out its own state” in Mali, is operating with apparent impunity in Libya, and its friends and allies the Taliban are on the offense in Afghanistan itself, as well as in Pakistan, and this clown is claiming victory.
“Obama, Karzai accelerate end of U.S. combat role in Afghanistan,” by Matt Spetalnick for Reuters, January 12:
(Reuters) – President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai agreed on Friday to speed up the handover of combat operations in Afghanistan to Afghan forces, raising the prospect of an accelerated U.S. withdrawal from the country and underscoring Obama’s determination to wind down a long, unpopular war.
Signaling a narrowing of differences, Karzai appeared to give ground in talks at the White House on U.S. demands for immunity from prosecution for any American troops who stay in Afghanistan beyond 2014, a concession that could allow Obama to keep at least a small residual force there….
Asked whether the cost of the war in lives and money was worth it, Obama said: “We achieved our central goal … or have come very close to achieving our central goal, which is to de-capacitate al Qaeda, to dismantle them, to make sure that they can’t attack us again.”…
“One of the reasons the United States will continue a limited presence in Afghanistan after 2014 in certain facilities in Afghanistan is because we have decided together to continue to fight against al Qaeda,” Karzai said. “So there will be no respite in that.”…