THE PRESIDENT:  Good morning, everybody.  When I announced our new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan last December, I directed my national security team to regularly assess our efforts and to review our progress after one year.  That’s what we’ve done consistently over the course of the past 12 months —- in weekly updates from the field, in monthly meetings with my national security team, and in my frequent consultations¹ with our Afghan, Pakistani and coalition²（联合，结合） partners.  And that’s what we’ve done as part of our annual review, which is now complete. 

I want to thank Secretary Clinton and Secretary Gates for their leadership.  Since Joint³ Chief of Staff Chairman, Admiral Mullen, is in Afghanistan, I’m pleased that we’re joined by Vice⁴ Chairman, General Cartwright. 

Our efforts also reflect the dedication⁵ of Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, whose memory we honor and whose work we’ll continue.  Indeed, the tributes to Richard that have poured in from around 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 and discussed our findings and the way forward together.  Today, I want to update the American people on our review —- our assessment⁶ 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（努力，尽力） .  But I can report that thanks to the extraordinary service of our troops and civilians⁸ on the ground, we are on track 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 3,000 innocent people.  It is the tribal⁹ regions along the Afghan-Pakistan border from which terrorists have launched more attacks against our homeland and our allies.  And if an even wider insurgency¹⁰（叛乱，暴动） were to engulf¹¹ Afghanistan, that would give al Qaeda even more space to plan these attacks. 

And that’s why, from the start, I’ve been very clear about our core goal.  It’s not to defeat every last threat to 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, dismantling¹² and defeating al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and preventing its capacity to threaten America and our allies in the future. 

In pursuit of our core goal we are seeing significant progress.  Today, al Qaeda’s senior leadership in the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan is under more pressure than at any point since they fled Afghanistan nine years ago.  Senior leaders have been killed.  It’s harder for them to recruit; it’s harder for them to travel; it’s harder for them to train; it’s harder for them to plot and launch attacks.  In short, al Qaeda is hunkered（蹲下，盘坐） down.  It will take time to ultimately defeat al Qaeda, and it remains¹³ a ruthless（无情的，残忍的） and resilient（有弹力的） enemy bent¹⁴ on attacking our country.  But make no mistake -- we are going to remain relentless¹⁵ in disrupting and dismantling that terrorist organization. 

In Afghanistan, we remain focused on the three areas of our strategy:  our military effort to break the Taliban’s momentum¹⁶ and train Afghan forces so they can take the lead; our civilian⁷ effort to promote effective governance and development; and regional cooperation, especially with Pakistan, because our strategy has to succeed on both sides of the border. 

Indeed, for the first time in years, we’ve put in place the strategy and the resources that our efforts in Afghanistan demand.  And because we’ve ended our combat mission in Iraq, and brought home nearly 100,000 of our troops from Iraq, we’re in a better position to give our forces in Afghanistan the support and equipment they need to achieve their missions.  And our drawdown in Iraq also means that today there are tens of thousands fewer Americans deployed¹⁷ in harm’s way than when I took office. 

With those additional forces in Afghanistan, we are making considerable gains toward our military objectives.  The additional military and civilian personnel that I ordered in Afghanistan are now in place, along with additional forces from our coalition, which has grown to 49 nations.  Along with our Afghan partners, we’ve gone on the offensive, targeting the Taliban and its leaders and pushing them out of their strongholds（据点，要塞）#p#分页标题#e# . 

As I said when I visited our troops in Afghanistan earlier this month, progress comes slowly and at a very high price in the lives of our men and women in uniform.  In many places, the gains we’ve made are still fragile and reversible（可逆的） .  But there is no question we are clearing more areas from Taliban control and more Afghans are reclaiming¹⁸ their communities.

To ensure Afghans can take responsibility, we continue to focus on training.  Targets for the growth of Afghan security forces are being met.  And because of the contributions of additional trainers from our coalition partners, I’m confident we will continue to meet our goals.