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Friend --

If you missed it last night, you should take a few minutes
to watch President Obama's address to the nation about our
policy in Afghanistan:

http://my.barackobama.com/Afghanistan6

The President's address marks a major turning point in a
nearly decade-long conflict. He announced his plan to start
withdrawing our troops from Afghanistan next month,
fulfilling a promise he made a year and a half ago to begin
the drawdown this summer.

To put it simply: when this president took office, there
were 180,000 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, the combat
mission in Iraq has ended, Afghanistan will be fully
responsible for its own security by 2014, and there will be
fewer than 100,000 American troops in the two countries by
the end of this year.

As President Obama decisively concludes two long-running
wars, he is refocusing our foreign policy to more
effectively address the threats we face and strengthen
America's leadership in the world as we do.

I'm writing to you because this transformation has already
begun to reshape the policy debate -- foreign and domestic
-- in the 2012 election. As the President said last night:
"It is time to focus on nation building here at home." The
outcome of this debate will have consequences for all of us,
so it's important that you understand the policy and help
inform the conversation.

You can read the President's remarks below, or watch the
address on the White House website here:

http://my.barackobama.com/Afghanistan6

Thanks,

Messina

Jim Messina
Campaign Manager
Obama for America


----------------------

FULL REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT ON THE WAY FORWARD IN
AFGHANISTAN
June 22, 2011
8:01 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Good evening. Nearly 10 years ago, America
suffered the worst attack on our shores since Pearl Harbor.
This mass murder was planned by Osama bin Laden and his al
Qaeda network in Afghanistan, and signaled a new threat to
our security -- one in which the targets were no longer
soldiers on a battlefield, but innocent men, women and
children going about their daily lives.

In the days that followed, our nation was united as we
struck at al Qaeda and routed the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Then, our focus shifted. A second war was launched in Iraq,
and we spent enormous blood and treasure to support a new
government there. By the time I took office, the war in
Afghanistan had entered its seventh year. But al Qaeda's
leaders had escaped into Pakistan and were plotting new
attacks, while the Taliban had regrouped and gone on the
offensive. Without a new strategy and decisive action, our
military commanders warned that we could face a resurgent al
Qaeda and a Taliban taking over large parts of Afghanistan.

For this reason, in one of the most difficult decisions that
I've made as President, I ordered an additional 30,000
American troops into Afghanistan. When I announced this
surge at West Point, we set clear objectives: to refocus on
al Qaeda, to reverse the Taliban's momentum, and train
Afghan security forces to defend their own country. I also
made it clear that our commitment would not be open-ended,
and that we would begin to draw down our forces this July.

Tonight, I can tell you that we are fulfilling that
commitment. Thanks to our extraordinary men and women in
uniform, our civilian personnel, and our many coalition
partners, we are meeting our goals. As a result, starting
next month, we will be able to remove 10,000 of our troops
from Afghanistan by the end of this year, and we will bring
home a total of 33,000 troops by next summer, fully
recovering the surge I announced at West Point. After this
initial reduction, our troops will continue coming home at a
steady pace as Afghan security forces move into the lead.
Our mission will change from combat to support. By 2014,
this process of transition will be complete, and the Afghan
people will be responsible for their own security.

We're starting this drawdown from a position of strength. Al
Qaeda is under more pressure than at any time since 9/11.
Together with the Pakistanis, we have taken out more than
half of al Qaeda's leadership. And thanks to our
intelligence professionals and Special Forces, we killed
Osama bin Laden, the only leader that al Qaeda had ever
known. This was a victory for all who have served since
9/11. One soldier summed it up well. "The message," he said,
"is we don't forget. You will be held accountable, no matter
how long it takes."

The information that we recovered from bin Laden's compound
shows al Qaeda under enormous strain. Bin Laden expressed
concern that al Qaeda had been unable to effectively replace
senior terrorists that had been killed, and that al Qaeda
has failed in its effort to portray America as a nation at
war with Islam -- thereby draining more widespread support.
Al Qaeda remains dangerous, and we must be vigilant against
attacks. But we have put al Qaeda on a path to defeat, and
we will not relent until the job is done.

In Afghanistan, we've inflicted serious losses on the
Taliban and taken a number of its strongholds. Along with
our surge, our allies also increased their commitments,
which helped stabilize more of the country. Afghan security
forces have grown by over 100,000 troops, and in some
provinces and municipalities we've already begun to
transition responsibility for security to the Afghan people.
In the face of violence and intimidation, Afghans are
fighting and dying for their country, establishing local
police forces, opening markets and schools, creating new
opportunities for women and girls, and trying to turn the
page on decades of war.

Of course, huge challenges remain. This is the beginning --
but not the end -- of our effort to wind down this war.
We'll have to do the hard work of keeping the gains that
we've made, while we draw down our forces and transition
responsibility for security to the Afghan government. And
next May, in Chicago, we will host a summit with our NATO
allies and partners to shape the next phase of this
transition.

We do know that peace cannot come to a land that has known
so much war without a political settlement. So as we
strengthen the Afghan government and security forces,
America will join initiatives that reconcile the Afghan
people, including the Taliban. Our position on these talks
is clear: They must be led by the Afghan government, and
those who want to be a part of a peaceful Afghanistan must
break from al Qaeda, abandon violence, and abide by the
Afghan constitution. But, in part because of our military
effort, we have reason to believe that progress can be made.

The goal that we seek is achievable, and can be expressed
simply: No safe haven from which al Qaeda or its affiliates
can launch attacks against our homeland or our allies. We
won't try to make Afghanistan a perfect place. We will not
police its streets or patrol its mountains indefinitely.
That is the responsibility of the Afghan government, which
must step up its ability to protect its people, and move
from an economy shaped by war to one that can sustain a
lasting peace. What we can do, and will do, is build a
partnership with the Afghan people that endures -- one that
ensures that we will be able to continue targeting
terrorists and supporting a sovereign Afghan government.

Of course, our efforts must also address terrorist safe
havens in Pakistan. No country is more endangered by the
presence of violent extremists, which is why we will
continue to press Pakistan to expand its participation in
securing a more peaceful future for this war-torn region.
We'll work with the Pakistani government to root out the
cancer of violent extremism, and we will insist that it
keeps its commitments. For there should be no doubt that so
long as I am President, the United States will never
tolerate a safe haven for those who aim to kill us. They
cannot elude us, nor escape the justice they deserve.

My fellow Americans, this has been a difficult decade for
our country. We've learned anew the profound cost of war --
a cost that's been paid by the nearly 4,500 Americans who
have given their lives in Iraq, and the over 1,500 who have
done so in Afghanistan -- men and women who will not live to
enjoy the freedom that they defended. Thousands more have
been wounded. Some have lost limbs on the battlefield, and
others still battle the demons that have followed them home.

Yet tonight, we take comfort in knowing that the tide of war
is receding. Fewer of our sons and daughters are serving in
harm's way. We've ended our combat mission in Iraq, with
100,000 American troops already out of that country. And
even as there will be dark days ahead in Afghanistan, the
light of a secure peace can be seen in the distance. These
long wars will come to a responsible end.

As they do, we must learn their lessons. Already this decade
of war has caused many to question the nature of America's
engagement around the world. Some would have America retreat
from our responsibility as an anchor of global security, and
embrace an isolation that ignores the very real threats that
we face. Others would have America over-extended,
confronting every evil that can be found abroad.

We must chart a more centered course. Like generations
before, we must embrace America's singular role in the
course of human events. But we must be as pragmatic as we
are passionate; as strategic as we are resolute. When
threatened, we must respond with force -- but when that
force can be targeted, we need not deploy large armies
overseas. When innocents are being slaughtered and global
security endangered, we don't have to choose between
standing idly by or acting on our own. Instead, we must
rally international action, which we're doing in Libya,
where we do not have a single soldier on the ground, but are
supporting allies in protecting the Libyan people and giving
them the chance to determine their own destiny.

In all that we do, we must remember that what sets America
apart is not solely our power -- it is the principles upon
which our union was founded. We're a nation that brings our
enemies to justice while adhering to the rule of law, and
respecting the rights of all our citizens. We protect our
own freedom and prosperity by extending it to others. We
stand not for empire, but for self-determination. That is
why we have a stake in the democratic aspirations that are
now washing across the Arab world. We will support those
revolutions with fidelity to our ideals, with the power of
our example, and with an unwavering belief that all human
beings deserve to live with freedom and dignity.

Above all, we are a nation whose strength abroad has been
anchored in opportunity for our citizens here at home. Over
the last decade, we have spent a trillion dollars on war, at
a time of rising debt and hard economic times. Now, we must
invest in America's greatest resource -- our people. We must
unleash innovation that creates new jobs and industries,
while living within our means. We must rebuild our
infrastructure and find new and clean sources of energy. And
most of all, after a decade of passionate debate, we must
recapture the common purpose that we shared at the beginning
of this time of war. For our nation draws strength from our
differences, and when our union is strong no hill is too
steep, no horizon is beyond our reach.

America, it is time to focus on nation building here at
home.

In this effort, we draw inspiration from our fellow
Americans who have sacrificed so much on our behalf. To our
troops, our veterans and their families, I speak for all
Americans when I say that we will keep our sacred trust with
you, and provide you with the care and benefits and
opportunity that you deserve.

I met some of these patriotic Americans at Fort Campbell. A
while back, I spoke to the 101st Airborne that has fought to
turn the tide in Afghanistan, and to the team that took out
Osama bin Laden. Standing in front of a model of bin Laden's
compound, the Navy SEAL who led that effort paid tribute to
those who had been lost -- brothers and sisters in arms
whose names are now written on bases where our troops stand
guard overseas, and on headstones in quiet corners of our
country where their memory will never be forgotten. This
officer -- like so many others I've met on bases, in Baghdad
and Bagram, and at Walter Reed and Bethesda Naval Hospital
-- spoke with humility about how his unit worked together as
one, depending on each other, and trusting one another, as a
family might do in a time of peril.

That's a lesson worth remembering -- that we are all a part
of one American family. Though we have known disagreement
and division, we are bound together by the creed that is
written into our founding documents, and a conviction that
the United States of America is a country that can achieve
whatever it sets out to accomplish. Now, let us finish the
work at hand. Let us responsibly end these wars, and reclaim
the American Dream that is at the center of our story. With
confidence in our cause, with faith in our fellow citizens,
and with hope in our hearts, let us go about the work of
extending the promise of America -- for this generation, and
the next.

May God bless our troops. And may God bless the United
States of America.

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