Obama Diam-diam Kunjungi Pasukan AS di Aghanistan
Obama Slips into Afghanistan to Bring America`s Longest War to a `Responsible End`
Editor : Ismail Gani
Translator : Novita Cahyadi
PADA kunjungan mendadak ke Afghanistan, Presiden Barack Obama berjanji Minggu (25/5) untuk mengakhiri perang terpanjang yang dilakukan Amerika Serikat secara 'bertanggung jawab' akhir tahun ini.
Ia berjanji keputusan tersebut dilakukan dengan tetap menempatkan sejumlah pasukan penjaga perdamaian untu membantu memulihkan keamanan di Afghanistan setelah pertempuran selama 13 tahun, seperti dilansir MailOnline.
Dia mengatakan kepada tentara di pangkalan militer bahwa perang telah mencapai titik penting, dengan melimpahkan wewenang tersebut pada militer Afghanistan.
Pada 2015, sebagian besar dari 32.800 pasukan Amerika di Afghanistan akan segera dipulangkan.
'Bagi sebagian dari Anda, ini akan menjadi tugas terakhir di Afghanistan," kata Obama kepada ratusan tentara AS di sebuah hanggar pesawat yang disambut gemuruh tepuk tangan. 'Perang Amerika di Afghanistan akan berakhir secara bertanggung jawab. "
Presiden juga menjelaskan bahwa AS kemungkinan akan mempertahankan peran yang terbatas di Afghanistan bahkan setelah misi tempurnya berakhir tahun ini dan perang terpanjang Amerika akan segera berakhir.
"Komitmen Amerika terhadap rakyat Afghanistan akan dipertahankan," kata Obama.
Setelah penerbangan malam dari Washington, Obama menghadiri briefing dengan para pejabat AS. Dia mengatakan bahwa saat memasuki ruang briefing, ia melihat poster dari Twin Towers hancur dalam serangan teroris tahun 2001.
"Ini mengingatkan mengapa kita di sini," katanya.
Obama diam-diam menyelinap ke Afghanistan dalam penerbangan Minggu untuk kunjungan akhir pekan menemui tentara AS yang bertugas menjelang akhir masa penugasan dari perang terpanjang Amerika.
Air Force One mendarat di Lapangan Udara Bagram, pangkalan utama AS di Afghanistan, setelah terbang dari Washington.
Obama dijadwalkan untuk singgah hanya beberapa jam di pangkalan dan tidak berencana untuk berkunjung ke Kabul, ibukota Afghanistan, untuk menemui Hamid Karzai, presiden Afghanistan yang memiliki hubungan penuh gejolak dengan Gedung Putih.
Perjalanan kejutan Obama berawal dari keputusan AS dan NATO untuk menarik sebagian besar pasukan mereka di Afghanistan menjelang batas waktu akhir tahun ini.
Obama berusaha untuk mempertahankan sejumlah kecil pasukan AS di Afghanistan setelah 2014 untuk melatih pasukan keamanan Afghanistan dan melakukan misi kontraterorisme. Tapi rencana tersebut terganjal oleh penolakan dari pengganti Karzai yang menolak menandatangani perjanjian keamanan bilateral dengan AS.
Setidaknya 2.181 prajurit di AS tewas dalam perang Afghanistan yang berlangsung hampir 13 tahun dan ribuan prajurit lainnya terluka.
Masih ada sekitar 32.800 tentara AS di Afghanistan, merosot dari level tertinggi dari 100.000 orang pada pertengahan 2010, ketika Obama mengirim tentara tambahan untuk menjaga perdamaian.
Ini adalah kunjungan keempat Obama ke Afghanistan sebagai presiden, tapi kunjungan pertama sejak memenangkan pemilihan presiden pada 2012.
Obama mempertaruhkan banyak filosofi kebijakan luar negeri AS untuk mengakhiri dua perang yang dia warisi dari pendahulunya, George W. Bush.
Pasukan terakhir Amerika mundur dari Irak menjelang akhir 2011 setelah AS dan Irak gagal mencapai kesepakatan keamanan untuk menjaga kekuatan sisa pasukan Amerika di negara itu. Pada tahun-tahun setelah penarikan pasukan Amerika, Irak dilanda gelombang kekerasan.
OBAMA slips into Afghanistan for secret visit with US troops and pledged to bring America's longest war to a 'responsible end' before the start of 2015
ON A SURPRISE visit to Afghanistan, President Barack Obama pledged Sunday (5/25) to bring America’s longest war to a 'responsible end' by the close of the year.
He promised a decision soon on keeping a small contingent of troops to help protect gains made over nearly 13 years of combat.
He told troops at this sprawling military base that the war had reached a pivotal point, with Afghan forces assuming primary responsibility for their country’s security.
By 2015, many of the 32,800 American forces now in Afghanistan will depart.
'For many of you, this will be your last tour in Afghanistan,' Obama said as hundreds of U.S. troops inside an airplane hangar erupted in applause. 'America’s war in Afghanistan will come to a responsible end.'
The president also made clear that the U.S. was likely to maintain a limited role here even after its combat mission ends this year and America's longest war comes to a close.
'America's commitment to the people of Afghanistan will endure,' he pledged.
After an overnight flight from Washington, Obama attended a briefing with U.S. officials. He said that as he entered the briefing room, he saw a poster of the Twin Towers destroyed in the 2001 terrorist attacks.
'It's a reminder of why we're here,' he said.
Obama secretly slipped into Afghanistan under the cover of darkness Sunday for a weekend visit with U.S. troops serving in the closing months of America's longest war.
Air Force One landed at Bagram Air Field, the main U.S. base in Afghanistan, after an overnight flight from Washington.
Obama was scheduled to spend just a few hours on the base and had no plans to travel to Kabul, the capital, to meet with Hamid Karzai, the mercurial president who has had a tumultuous relationship with the White House.
Obama's surprise trip came as the U.S. and NATO withdraw most of their forces ahead of a year-end deadline.
Obama is seeking to keep a small number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan beyond 2014 to train Afghan security forces and conduct counterterrorism missions. But that plan is contingent on Karzai's successor signing a bilateral security agreement that Karzai has refused to authorize.
At least 2,181 members of the U.S. military have died during the nearly 13-year Afghan war and thousands more have been wounded.
There are still about 32,800 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, down from a high of 100,000 in mid-2010, when as Obama sent in additional soldiers to quell escalating violence.
This was Obama's fourth visit to Afghanistan as president, but his first since winning re-election in 2012.
Obama has staked much of his foreign policy philosophy on ending the two wars he inherited from his predecessor, George W. Bush.
The final American troops withdrew from Iraq in the closing days of 2011 after the U.S. and Iraq failed to reach a security agreement to keep a small American residual force in the country. In the years that have followed the American withdrawal, Iraq has been battered by resurgent waves of violence.
