Washington: The goal of the United States is to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda and give Afghanistan government the breathing room necessary to build up its armed forces.
"The President's strategy (on Afghanistan) is very clear. It is driven by the goal to disrupt, dismantle and ultimately defeat al Qaeda," the White House Press Secretary, Jay Carney, told reporters at his daily news conference yesterday.
"It also has as its objective to stabilise Afghanistan, to give the Afghan government the breathing room necessary to build up its armed forces, to allow it to gradually take over security lead," he said in response to a question.
"We are in the process of that transition as we draw down US forces that were sent in the surge. That process will result, as articulated by NATO in Lisbon, in the full transfer to Afghan lead by the end of 2014," Carney said.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, February 02, 2012, 09:34