President Obama: All Surge Soldiers in Afghanistan Will Be Withdrawn By Mid-2012 -- A News Roundup

Afghanistan: Obama Orders Withdrawal Of 33,000 Troops -- BBC

President Barack Obama has announced the withdrawal of 10,000 US troops from Afghanistan this year and another 23,000 by the end of September 2012.

Mr Obama said it was "the beginning, but not the end, of our effort to wind down this war". At least 68,000 US troops will remain in Afghanistan.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy later said he would also begin to withdraw 4,000 French soldiers from Afghanistan.

The Taliban said the insurgency would continue until all foreign forces left.

In a statement it said Mr Obama's announcement was "symbolic".

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More News On President Obama's Speech On U.S. Troops Withdrawing From Afghanistan

Text of Obama's speech on Afghanistan -- AP
Obama sets in motion U.S. pullout from Afghanistan -- Yahoo News/Reuters
Obama Announces Afghanistan Troop Drawdown -- Voice of America
Obama's drawdown launches Afghan endgame -- Yahoo News/AFP
Obama Will Speed Pullout From War in Afghanistan -- New York Times
Obama's Afghanistan speech: 33,000 troops to come home by September 2012 -- Politico
Obama: 30,000-plus surge troops leaving Afghan -- CBS News
Obama announces plan to bring home 33,000 ‘surge’ troops from Afghanistan -- Washington Post
Obama announces drawdown of forces from Afghanistan, saying 'tide of war is receding' -- L.A. Times
Obama details plan to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan -- Christian Science Monitor
Obama Will Speed Pullout From War in Afghanistan -- New York Times
Obama: Time to withdraw troops from Afghanistan; ‘We stand not for empire’ -- Washington times
Obama: This is beginning of the end of the Afghanistan war -- CBS
Obama's Afghanistan plan -- Seattle PI

Obama's Afghanistan plan criticized by Dems, GOP -- Yahoo News/AP
McCain: Obama's Afghanistan Troop Drawdown Is 'Unneccessary Risk' -- FOX News
Dems Disappointed With Pace of Afghanistan Troop Withdrawal -- FOX news
Liberal Dems slam Obama for 'pursuing wrong mission' in Afghanistan -- The Hill
Kerry praises Obama plan to begin withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan -- Washington Post

NATO welcomes Obama's Afghan plan -- Washington Post
Mullen Backs Afghan Pullout Plan but Calls It Riskier -- New York Times
Mullen Says Afghan Plan Riskier Than He Sought -- Wall Street Journal
Top US military officer says Afghan drawdown risky -- AFP
Afghanistan drawdown 'risky', US joint chiefs head says -- BBC
Obama's drawdown riskier than military first advised -Mullen -- Reuters
Adm. Mullen: Afghan withdrawal plan 'more aggressive' than I first wanted -- The Hill
Gates Beats Out Petraeus in Fight Over Afghanistan Withdrawal -- The Atlantic
Germany welcomes Obama's Afghan plan -- Stars and Strips/AP
Karzai Welcomes Withdrawal, but Many Afghans Are Wary -- New York Times

Petraeus unmentioned -- Politico
Troops Hope Most 'Trigger-Pullers' Stay As Withdrawal Begins -- NPR
NATO Allies Have a Head Start on Afghan Withdrawal -- New York Times
The Taliban Applaud Obama’s Afghan Pullout -- Daily Beast

Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials

Obama’s Afghanistan Speech: Admitting the Limits of American Power -- Michael Crowley, Time
Obama's Choice: A Partial Exit, With Reelection in Mind -- Ron Fournier, National Journal
Splitting the baby? Obama charts "centered" Afghanistan plan -- CBS
The decisiveness in Obama’s Afghanistan speech -- David Ignatius, Washington Post
A pivot point in Afghanistan -- Doyle McManus, L.A. Times
The Way Out? -- New York Times editorial
As Politics of War Shift, Risks for Obama Ease -- Jeff Zeleny and Jackie Calmes, New York Times
Obama: The postwar era begins now -- Jackson Diehl, Washington Post
Obama on Afghanistan: strategic drawdown or rush for the door? -- Seth Jones, The Guardian
Afghan analysis: political calculation rather than military judgment -- Toby Harnden, The Telegraph
Barack Obama says tide of war is turning in Afghanistan -- Alex Spillius, The Telegraph
‘Mission accomplished,’ Obama style -- Dana Milbank, Washington Post
Obama’s Afghanistan exit -- Charles Lane, Washington Post
Afghanistan Reacts to Obama: 10,000? Why So Much So Fast? -- Time
Obama's Tough Balancing Act -- Carol Lee, Wall Street Journal
The president may be sabotaging his own Afghanistan strategy -- Washington Post Editorial
In Declaring Drawdown, Obama Takes Back Control of Afghan War -- Michael Cohen, The Atlantic
Goodbye to a Kind of War -- George Packer, New Yorker
Gauging the Effect of Obama's Troop Cuts -- Brookings