President Obama announced during his 2013 State of the Union Address that 34,000 U.S. troops now deployed to Afghanistan will be home by next February. “Tonight, I can announce that over the next year, another 34,000 American troops will come home from Afghanistan,” Obama said during the Feb. 13 speech. “This drawdown will continue. And by the end of next year, our war in Afghanistan will be over. Beyond 2014, America’s commitment to a unified and sovereign Afghanistan will endure, but the nature of our commitment will change. We are negotiating an agreement with the Afghan government that focuses on two missions: training and equipping Afghan forces so that the country does not again slip into chaos, and counter-terrorism efforts that allow us to pursue the remnants of al Qaeda and their affiliates.”
