All hail, Obama has ended the good war. Aw hell.
Via DW DE
A symbolic ceremony at NATO headquarters on Sunday marked the official end to the US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) combat mission in Afghanistan.
“Together… we have lifted the Afghan people out of the darkness of despair and given them hope for the future,” the US commander of ISAF, General John Campbell, told the NATO soldiers assembled at the ceremony at military headquarters.
“You’ve made Afghanistan stronger and our countries safer,” he said in the speech, released by ISAF on Twitter, as live broadcasts were banned for security reasons.
“The road before us remains challenging, but we will triumph,” he added.
Handover complete
The ceremony completed the step-by-step handover of responsibility to Afghan forces, who have nominally been in charge of security since the middle of last year. The ISAF combat mission will now transition to a “training and suppport” mission under NATO leadership starting on January 1.
The “Resolute Support” mission will see 13,500 soldiers, mostly American, provide training and aid to Afghan army, paramilitary and police forces as they try to put down a deadly insurgency by the Taliban that has caused almost 10,000 casualties this year alone – the highest figure since the United Nations began keeping records in 2008.[…]
Altogether some 3,500 foreign troops were killed in 13 years of fighting, 2,224 of them American.
At its peak, the force counted 140,000 troops as Obama boosted numbers in 2010 in a bid to drive insurgents out of strategically important regions such as the southern provicnes of Helmand and Kandahar.
Many Afghans fear that the withdrawal of NATO combat troops will contribute to a deteriorating security situation, with Afghan officials complaining of a lack of assets such as air support, medical evacuation and intelligence.