President Obama said that the shooting in Afghanistan “does signal” that the United States military needs to come home from Afghanistan, although the White House also indicated that the shooting would not cause a rush to pull the military from the country.
“Obviously, in no way is this representative of the enormous sacrifices that our men and women in uniform have made in Afghanistan,” Obama told Greg Warmoth of WFTV (Fla.) today. “It does signal, though, the importance of us transitioning in accordance with my plan so that Afghans are taking more of the lead for their own security and we can start getting our troops home.” The president also said that the shooting, in which a U.S. soldier allegedly killed 16 Afghan villagers, appears to have been carried out by a “lone gunman.”
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The White House resisted the suggestion that the shooting would accelerate Obama’s plan to pull American troops out of Afghanistan. “I’m sure there will be discussions ongoing between U.S. military leaders as well as civilian leaders in Afghanistan and the Afghan government in the wake of this incident,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters today. “But our strategic objectives have not changed and they will not change. And we will continue to discuss with our Afghan counterparts the need to implement our strategy and develop that Strategic Partnership that will allow us ultimately to turn over responsibility to the Afghans.”
The president did say that he is “determined to bring our troops home from Afghanistan,” but he wants to “do it in a responsible way.”
