As it happened: Obama cuts Afghan surge

Key points

• Obama says 33,000 "surge" troops will be out of Afghanistan by September 2012
• First US troops to start coming home in July 2011 and 10,000 to be out by year's end
• All times are EDT (GMT -4)

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Report

Reporters: Matthew Danzico and Matthew Davis

Skip To Latest Live Text

1. 1900: 
   Hello and welcome to our live coverage of US President Barack Obama's address to the nation in which he is expected to detail plans for the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. We will be following the build up, the speech and the immediate reaction from the US and around the world. And throughout we will bring you insights from the BBC's correspondents, as well as opinion from a range of experts and you, our readers.
2. 

   1905: Mark Mardell BBC North America editor 
   The president may talk in more detail about the plan to hand over the fighting to Afghan troops by 2014. But it is worth remembering that when every last solider who was part of the surge is home, there will still be around 70,000 American troops in Afghanistan.
3. 1909: 
   An opinion poll for the BBC World Service in 24 countries suggests most people internationally support negotiations with the Taliban. More than 24,000 people were polled between December and February, and 40 per cent backed negotiations. Recently, President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan acknowledged that the US and other foreign powers are engaged in preliminary talks with the Taliban.
4. 1915: 
   The Washington Post has published a reader's guide to what to look for in the president's speech. It boils down to four areas: The costs, the numbers, the strategy and the endgame.
5. 1918: 
   Senator Barbara Boxer, a Democrat from California and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has told the MSNBC network she feels there must be even steeper troop reductions than the 10,000 troops from Afghanistan in 2011, which President Obama is expected to announce.
6.  

   1922: Via Twitter Frank Conniff 
   tweets: I'm glad Obama is withdrawing troops from Afghanistan. We need to nip this thing in the bud before it gets out of hand.
7.  

   1926: Via Twitter Former US state department spokesman PJ Crowley 
   tweets: A reduction by one third of US troops in Afghanistan still preserves enough capability to continue the existing strategy through 2014.
8. 1931: 
   Alissa Rubin from The New York Times says that some Afghans and American civilian and military planners fear that Afghanistan will fall into an "economic abyss" when US troops begin to withdraw, which could send some Afghans back into the insurgency.
9. 1937: 
   The New York Times also says it has the contents of President Obama's announcement tonight, through which he will announce 10,000 US troops to be gone by the end of the year, and another 20,000 by the final quarter of 2012.
10. 1945: 
    Carol Lee from The Wall Street Journal says President Obama may face difficulty in making his speech tonight because it must be directed at multiple audiences, from the American public to US military troops to members of Congress - Mr Obama must appease them all.
11. 1949: 
    Senator John McCain, a Republican from Arizona, has told CBS News that President Obama's Afghanistan withdrawal plan is an "unnecessary risk".
12. 1954: 
    When President Obama visits Fort Drum in New York on Thursday, he will for the first time have an opportunity to see how his withdrawl speech sat with US military troops.
13. 1957: 
    President Obama's speech is scheduled to begin in three minutes. A live stream will be shown on this page.
14. 2003: 
    Mr Obama begins speaking in the White House. He says that ordering the surge was "one of the most difficult decisions that I've made as president".
15. 2005: 
    The president said, starting next month, the US 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".
16. 2006: 
    British Prime Minister David Cameron "fully agreed" with Mr Obama that "sustained pressure" could be applied to Afghan insurgents despite a troop cutback, his office says.
17. 2007: 
    President Obama said US troops has put al-Qaeda on a "path to defeat, and we will not relent until the job is done".
18. 2008: 
    Mr Obama said that those who want to be part of a peaceful Afghanistan must "break from al-Qaeda, abandon violence, and abide by the Afghan Constitution".
19. 2010: 
    Mr Obama said US citizens should take comfort in knowing the "tide of war is receding".
20. 2011: 
    President Obama: "We are 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."
21.  

    2012: Via Twitter Jeff Zeleny 
    tweets: Is tonight's speech a defining moment in the Obama presidency? The Republican criticism will be muted, but he, alone, owns the risks.
22. 2013: 
    The president is now turning his speech toward US employment and the economy, saying Americans must "unleash innovation that creates new jobs and industry, while living within our means. We must rebuild our infrastructure and find new and clean sources of energy."
23.  

    2016: Via Twitter Howard Kurtz 
    tweets: "It is time to focus on nation building here at home"- Obama trying to steal his critics' chief argument against the wars. Attempted larceny
24. 2017: 
    The president says: "Now, let us finish the work at hand. Let us responsibly end these wars, and reclaim the American dream that is at the centre of our story."
25.  

    2018: Via Twitter @Roeberg 
    tweets: Why is Afghan speech focussing on Al Qaeda, is the Taliban not the major terrorist player in Afghanistan anymore?
26. 2019: 
    The president has concluded his speech, saying: "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."
27. 2020: 
    In his speech, the president made sure to underscore the price of conflicts overseas, saying the US had spent more than a trillion dollars on war over the last ten year.
28.  

    2021: Via Twitter @MattBinder 
    tweets: Obama can say whatever he wants in his address. All I'm hearing is that we'll be in Afghanistan until 2014.
29. 2023: 
    Senior Democrat Nancy Pelosi has issued a statement saying: "Tonight, President Obama made it clear - we are now beginning the process of bringing our troops home and ending the war in Afghanistan."
30. 2025: 
    In a statement reacting to the president's speech, Senator Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, said she wants to "hear directly from our military leaders to determine the feasibility of the president's plan".
31. 2026: 
    Outgoing defence secretary Robert Gates releases a statement saying he backs the president's withdrawal plan "because it provides our commanders with enough resources, time and, perhaps most importantly, flexibility to bring the surge to a successful conclusion".
32. 2027: 
    The New York Times has posted the text of the president's full speech.
33. 2032: 
    US Congressman Barney Frank tells the MSNBC network that, considering the US budget crisis, he is disappointed the president has only ordered the removal of 33,000 troops in just over a year.
34.  

    2033: Via Twitter Ron Fournier 
    tweets: "Pragmatic as we are passionate." Is THIS the Obama doctrine?
35.  

    2034: Via Twitter @SamWhited 
    tweets: People compare Afghanistan to Vietnam, and while there are many similarities, we will actually be leaving Afghanistan in a stable condition.
36. 2035: 
    Responding to the president's speech, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has said though "we all want our troops to come home as soon as possible", Americans should not agree to an "arbitrary timetable on the withdrawal of our troops". He adds that the decision to pull out troops should not be based on politics or economics.
37. 2036: 
    Mr Obama gave his address from the East Room of the White House.

    
38.  

    2039: Via Twitter @dmataconis 
    tweets: We went into Afghanistan to fight and destroy al Qaeda. Now, al Qaeda can be found in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and among the Libyan rebels.
39. 2042: 
    CNN's Nic Robertson says because US troops have provided security for a range of Afghans, from government officials to local merchants, when American troops pull out of the Afghanistan, the country may not be able to sustain its economy.
40. 

    2044: Paul Adams BBC News, Washington 
    This speech was all about reassuring a conflict-weary American public that, in the president's words, the tide of war was receding. Six thousand Americans had died in Iraq and Afghanistan and a trillion dollars had been spent. It was time, he said, pointedly, to focus on nation building at home.
41.  

    2048: Via Twitter The BBC's Katty Kay 
    tweets: I hear too many people who know Afgh saying things are really bad. What's the contingency? Why have we lost Afgh support?
42. 2049: 
    Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson said that while bringing troops home from Afghanistan is a "good thing", the president's plan is "not much more than lip-service to his pledge to begin withdrawing troops by this summer".
43. 

    2051: Paul Adams BBC News, Washington 
    There were glimpses of an Obama doctrine in the speech, too. We must chart a more centred course, he said, both pragmatic and passionate. Citing the current operation in Libya, he said America did not have to choose between standing idly by or acting alone.
44. 2057: 
    In a statement responding to the president's speech, House Speaker John Boehner says: "Succeeding in Afghanistan - and preventing al-Qaeda and the Taliban from using the country [Afghanistan] as a safe haven from which to launch attacks on the US and our allies - is critically important to the safety and security of our country."
45. 2102: @LizBuddie 
    tweets: I've always felt Obama should've either bailed from Afghanistan or given Army generals what they need. Can't split the difference.
46. 2103: The BBC's Natalia Antelava in Washington 
    Obama's short speech covered a lot of ground, from Afghanistan to the killing of Osama Bin Laden to the US support for the Arab uprisings. It addressed both critics and supporters of the withdrawal. But the strongest message was "it's time to rebuild America". That's what most voters want to hear.
47. 2106: 
    Before his speech, Mr Obama had telephoned his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari, officials in Islamabad said. What will they have made of the president's language? For example: "We will work with the Pakistani government to root out the cancer of violent extremism, and we will insist that it keep its commitments."
48.  

    2115: Via Twitter @JoshBranson 
    tweets: We need a Commander in Chief who will make the tough case for our commitment to Afghanistan, not someone who simply follows the polls.
49. 2117: 
    Vali Nasr, a Tufts University professor specialising in international politics, tells MSNBC he cannot see how a "novice, newly-built Afghan army" can do the job of maintaining security, after US troops withdraw from the country.
50. 2124: 
    The Nation magazine's John Nichols reminds readers that while President Obama "imagines that combat forces may be largely out of the Afghanistan" by 2012, he does not guarantee that timeline.
51. 2130: 
    That concludes our coverage of President Obama's speech on the withdrawal of US surge troops from Afghanistan. You can continue to follow the story as it develops via the front page of the BBC News website
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53. bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13883751.