world war ii. 10% of the overall force, if it s 7,000 russians killed in action, that could imply another 20 to 30,000 wounded in action, and then at company or battalion level, the losses may be severe along with the equipment. they have been nailing helicopters and russian fighter bombers, and so i think the russians are not just stalled but they have been damaged. they have top-down leadership structures. that doesn t work in a decentralized battle. they are also an artillery army, and rockets and 152 artillery. smart munitions. the russians are in a terrible mess. the ukrainian civilians are dying or being injured by the
september. he s expected to ask president obama to delay the withdrawal of troops from afghanistan. i spoke to the president yesterday at blair house, the afghan president across the street from the white house, about the increasing threat to afghanistan as isis tries to gain a foothold there. i m here to thank the american people the congress of the united states and president obama for an immense commitment to afghanistan. over 2,000 servicemen and women have lost their lives, over 20,000 wounded in action. the people of afghanistan want to say thank you. what are the threats? what are the threats now to afghanistan, the security threats? the security threats first is that terrorism is changing. it is becoming much more lethal. it s morphing very rapidly and
years since he gave that speech. and now after 12 years of combat, more than 2,300 americans killed, over 19,000 wounded in action, three quarters of a trillion dollars in military spending just for that country, ten medal of honor recipients and there s about to become an 11th, the president is playing out his exit strategy for america s longest war. america s combat mission will be over by the end of this year. starting next year, afghans will be fully responsible for securing their country. american personnel will be in an advisory role. we will no longer patrol afghan cities or towns, mountains or valleys. that is task for the afghan people. but there will be a significant u.s. military presence in the country for at least the next two years. currently there are 32,000 troops in afghanistan. the president s plan calls for a
staff gave some look to his vision. coming in the next year, afghans will be responsible for their security of their country. in other words, it is time to turn the page on a decade in which so much of the foreign policy was focused on the wars in afghanistan and iraq. when i took office, we had nearly 180,000 troops in harm s w way. by the end of this year, we will have less than 10,000. 100,000 troops were in afghanistan after the 2009 surge. since november of 2001, more than 2,300 americans have been killed in afghanistan, and 20,000 wounded in action nearly.