In speech from Bagram, Obama says Afghanistan deal is one where ‘war ends and a new chapter begins'
— -- President Barack Obama, on an unannounced trip to Afghanistan, told war-weary Americans in a speech televised from a military base there that the United States and Afghanistan had signed a long-term partnership agreement to ensure that "war ends and a new chapter begins."
And Obama, speaking on the one-year anniversary of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, said the daring strike had put America's goal of crushing al-Qaida "within our reach."
The president spoke from an aircraft hangar at Bagram Air Base, against a backdrop of armored vehicles, one with a US flag draped over its side.
Earlier, Obama thanked the troops in the field by radio, and visited the base's hospital, where he awarded 10 Purple Hearts.
The independent group icasualties.org puts overall NATO coalition casualties in "Operation Enduring Freedom" since 2001 at 2,985, 1,957 of them Americans. More than 15,000 Americans have been wounded over the same period.
The new long-term partnership agreement governs the United States' role in Afghanistan for 10 years after NATO-led combat forces leave in 2014. It envisions that some American troops will remain after that date to train Afghan security forces and carry out counterterrorism strikes. NATO leaders are scheduled to be in Chicago in late May for a summit during which they are expected to spell out how the alliance's troops will hand over security duties to Afghan security forces throughout 2013.
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