Obama Says U.S. Goal in Afghanistan 'within Reach'

U.S. President Barack Obama said Saturday that the U.S. goal in Afghanistan was "within reach" as he vowed to move ahead with a timetable to end the 11-year-old military campaign and focus on a broad domestic agenda.

"We've pushed the Taliban out of their strongholds," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address. "And our core objective -- the reason we went to war in the first place -- is now within reach: ensuring that Al-Qaida can never again use Afghanistan to launch attacks against America."

The comments came after Obama wrapped up talks with visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai, promising to speed up a transfer of lead security responsibility from NATO to Afghan forces this spring, in a sign that the pace of U.S. troop withdrawal could quicken.

After meeting with Karzai, Obama said NATO forces would have a "very limited" role in the country after 2014 and insisted that Washington had achieved its prime goal of "decapitating" Al-Qaida.

The leaders met at a crucial moment in the final chapter of a long, bloody war, and as Obama balances the future security of Afghanistan with U.S. combat fatigue and a desire to spend America's dwindling resources at home.

Obama, planning the withdrawal of most of the 66,000 U.S. troops left in Afghanistan, said that after 2014, American forces would have a "very limited" mission in training Afghan forces and preventing a return of Al-Qaida.

"This week, we agreed that this spring, Afghan forces will take the lead for security across the entire country, and our troops will shift to a support role," the U.S. president pointed out. "In the coming months, I'll announce the next phase of our drawdown. And by the end of next year, America's war in Afghanistan will be over."

Obama said that now Americans faced difficult domestic tasks of taking care of returning veterans, growing the economy, shrinking budget deficits, creating new jobs and boosting family incomes.

"We have to fix our infrastructure and our immigration system," he noted.

"We have to protect our planet from the destructive effects of climate change - and protect our children from the horrors of gun violence. These, too, will be difficult missions for America. But they must be met."