President Obama ran on a platform which involved the withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Creating a strategy for the withdrawal of U.S. military was begun just after his election. After the plan for withdrawal was put in motion, the White House has kept it on schedule. By August 31, only 50,000 service personnel will remain in Iraq. All American troops could be gone by the end of 2011.
Handing Iraq back to Iraqis
According to The Guardian, the President announced that military authority can be handed over to Iraqi authorities by the end of August. At a speech given at the Disabled American Veterans conference in Atlanta, GA, the President addressed the withdrawal of troops from Iraq. He highlighted that he had promised a withdrawal in his campaign platform. The President also pinpointed that 90,000 troops have already been withdrawn from Iraq since he took office. Following the August 31 deadline, after which all authority of military operations will transfer to Iraqi officials, 50,000 American soldiers will remain initially as an advisory body. American combat operations will effectively cease at that time.
Focus to shift to Afghanistan
Though the war in Iraq is apparently winding down, the Afghan conflict is nevertheless ongoing. According to CNN, Obama has vowed that he will not allow the Taliban and Al Qaeda to return to power in Afghanistan on his watch. The war in Afghanistan has been the subject of considerable controversy of late. The Rolling Stone Stanly McChrystal interview led General Stanley McChrystal being fired, and also the Wikileaks documents release of 90,000 pages of Afghan war documents has created a significant deal of outrage.
The end of the beginning or the beginning of the end
The withdrawal from Iraq is proceeding as outlined by plan. The Afghan conflict is far from resolution. Some think that the war in Afghanistan cannot result in a victory for the US, even though more soldiers are in Afghanistan than Iraq. There is still no real end in sight for Afghanistan.
Additional reading
guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/02/barack-obama-us-iraq-combat
cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/08/02/obama.iraq.drawdown/index.html?hpt=T1
