Obama: Hard to Anticipate US Role In Afghanistan in 2014

President Barack Obama says it is “hard to anticipate” what the U.S. role in Afghanistan will be in 2014, tempering earlier NATO statements that international forces would hand over military control to Afghan forces in 2014.

Mr. Obama said it is his goal that by 2014, U.S. forces will not still be engaged in combat operations “of the sort we are involved in now,” but he said he will make a final decision on that issue “when I get there.”

His comments contrasted with NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s statement that he did not foresee foreign troops in a combat role in Afghanistan after 2014.

Mr. Obama was speaking at the close of a two-day NATO summit meeting in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon that covered Afghanistan and a number of other security topics.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who was at the summit, welcomed the NATO leaders’ decision on what he called the “effective, irreversible and sustainable” transition.

Rasmussen said he is “confident” the parties could meet the 2014 deadline, but did add that the move would depend on the security situation in Afghanistan.

NATO leaders also met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday in a gathering that Rasmussen described as a “turning point” in relations between Moscow and the Western military alliance.

Rasmussen announced at the end of the NATO-Russia Council meeting that Moscow had taken the historic step to begin working with NATO on missile defense.

The NATO chief also said they had already reached a deal to expand the transit of equipment through Russia to support NATO troops in Afghanistan.

On Friday – the opening day of the summit – the NATO leaders also agreed to a new, 10-year mission statement for the military alliance. It lays out how the organization plans to meet the security challenges of the 21st century.

NATO members also backed the approval of a START missile pact. Mr. Obama has called on the U.S. Senate to ratify the treaty between Moscow and Washington, aimed at cutting deployed nuclear weapons by about 30 percent.