folks who might have missed it. well, you know, when the president gave his speech at westpoint back in december of 2009 announcing the new afghan policy, everybody, including cnn picked up on the fact that there was this july 2011 withdrawal date. but there was an enormous caveat in that, which secretary gates just mentioned. he mentioned it was concerns based. everybody knows the conditions in afghanistan are not at the point where you ll have a lot of provinces transferring authority of the afghan police and army by july of 2011. right now of the 34 provinces only one which is kabul city and the surrounding neighborhoods, is under the control of the afghan security forces. so by having this conditions-based caveat in there, it was pretty clear that 2011 wasn t going to be significant. what has changed is the administration at lisbon with the nato conference there in
havens, because unless you can deal with that you ll still have them coming across the border and attacks u.s. troops. it s that six months between now and july that s going to be so critical, tony. and you ll be watching it for us. barba farr, thank you. president obama highlights progress in the fight against al qaeda in afghanistan and pakistan, but a new assessment warns the gains are fragile. here are some of the highlights. despite the challenges it s set to begin a responsible reduction in july of 2011, but the president says there are more difficult days ahead. i want to be clear, this continues to be a very difficult endeavor. but i can report that thanks to
clinton and secretary gates for their leadership, since joint chief of staff chairman admirable mullen is in afghanistan, i m pleased we re joined by vice chairman general cartwright. our efforts also reflect the dedication of richard holbrooke, whose memory we honor and whose work will continue. the tributes that have poured in from across the globe speak to both the enormous impact of his life and to the broad international commitment to our shared efforts in this critical region. i have spoken with president karzai of afghanistan, as well as president zardari of pakistan. i want to update the american people on our review, our assessment of where we stand, and areas where we need to do better. i want to be clear, this continues to be a very difficult endeavor, but i can report that
to achieve our goals. it s important to remember why we remain in afghanistan. it was afghanistan where al-qaeda plotted the 9/11 attacks that murdered 3000 innocent peep, it is the tribal regions along the afghan-pakistan border from which terrorists have launched more attacks against our homeland and our allies and if an even wider insurgency were to engulf afghanistan that would al-qaeda more space to plan these attacks. that s why from the start i ve been clear about our core goal. it s not to defeat every last threat for the security of afghanistan because ultimately it is afghans who must secure their country and it s not nation building, because it is afghans who must build their nation. rather, we are focused on disrupting, dismantling, and defeating al-qaeda in afghanistan and pakistan. and preventing its capacity
international effort was on full display in lisbon last month where the coalition committed to a long-term partnership with afghanistan while laying out a plan for the afghan government to take responsibility for its own security. the transition will begin in 2011 and conclude in 2014. now, of course, we are clear-eyed about the way ahead. the review emphasized the need for a political process in afternoon, including reconciliation and expanded regional and international diplomacy. it needs to complement the continued military presence and to leverage the consensus that we reached in lisbon. in pakistan,fold be important to keep making progress and eliminating sanctuaries for extremists. let me fill you in on our plan for just a bit. we are going to take a break, but we will continue to monitor the comments from secretary of state clinton and secretary of defense gates. we have members of our team