It is my pleasure to welcome President Karzai back to the White House, as well as his delegation.

We last saw each other during the NATO Summit, in my hometown of Chicago -- a city that reflects

the friendship between our peoples, including many Afghan-Americans, as well as the Karzai

family. So, Mr. President, welcome.

We meet at a critical moment. The 33,000 additional forces that I ordered to Afghanistan have

served with honor. They’ve completed their mission and, as promised, returned home this

past fall. The transition is well underway, and soon nearly 90 percent of Afghans will

live in areas where Afghan forces are in the lead for their own security.

This year, we’ll mark another milestone -- Afghan forces will take the lead for security

across the entire country. And by the end of next year, 2014, the transition will be

complete --Afghans will have full responsibility for their security, and this war will come

to a responsible end.

This progress is only possible because of the incredible sacrifices of our troops and

our diplomats, the forces of our many coalition partners, and the Afghan people who’ve endured

extraordinary hardship. In this war, more than 2,000 of America’s sons and daughters

have given their lives. These are patriots that we honor today, tomorrow, and forever.

And as we announced today, next month I will present our nation’s highest military decoration,

the Medal of Honor, to Staff Sergeant Clinton Romesha for his heroic service in Afghanistan.

Today, because of the courage of our citizens, President Karzai and I have been able to review

our shared strategy. With the devastating blows we’ve struck against al Qaeda, our

core objective -- the reason we went to war in the first place -- is now within reach:

ensuring that al Qaeda can never again use Afghanistan to launch attacks against our

country. At the same time, we pushed the Taliban out of their strongholds. Today, most major

cities -- and most Afghans -- are more secure, and insurgents have continued to lose territory.

Meanwhile, Afghan forces continue to grow stronger. As planned, some 352,000 Afghan

soldiers and police are now in training or on duty. Most missions are already being led

by Afghan forces. And of all the men and women in uniform in Afghanistan, the vast majority

are Afghans who are fighting and dying for their country every day.

We still face significant challenges. But because of this progress, our transition is

on track. At the NATO Summit last year, we agreed with our coalition partners that Afghan

forces will take the lead for security in mid-2013.

President Karzai and his team have been here for several days. We’ve shared a vision

for how we're going to move ahead. We’ve consulted with our coalition partners, and

we will continue to do so. And today, we agreed that as Afghan forces take the lead and as

President Karzai announces the final phase of the transition, coalition forces will move

to a support role this spring. Our troops will continue to fight alongside Afghans,

when needed. But let me say it as plainly as I can: Starting this spring, our troops

will have a different mission -- training, advising, assisting Afghan forces. It will

be an historic moment and another step toward full Afghan sovereignty -- something I know

that President Karzai cares deeply about, as do the Afghan people.

This sets the stage for the further reduction of coalition forces. We’ve already reduced

our presence in Afghanistan to roughly 66,000 U.S. troops. I’ve pledged we’ll continue

to bring our forces home at a steady pace, and in the coming months I’ll announce the

next phase of our drawdown -- a responsible drawdown that protects the gains our troops

have made.

President Karzai and I also discussed the nature of our security cooperation after 2014.

Our teams continue to work toward a security agreement. And as they do, they will be guided

by our respect for Afghan sovereignty, and by our two long-term tasks, which will be

very specific and very narrow -- first, training and assisting Afghan forces and, second, targeting

counterterrorism missions -- targeted counterterrorism missions against al Qaeda and its affiliates.

Our discussions will focus on how best to achieve these two tasks after 2014, and it’s

our hope that we can reach an agreement this year.

Ultimately, security gains must be matched by political progress. So we recommitted our

nations to a reconciliation process between the Afghan government and the Taliban. President

Karzai updated me on the Afghan government’s road map to peace. And today, we agreed that

this process should be advanced by the opening of a Taliban office to facilitate talks.

Reconciliation also requires constructive support from across the region, including

Pakistan. We welcome recent steps that have been taken in that regard, and we’ll look

for more tangible steps -- because a stable and secure Afghanistan is in the interest

not only of the Afghan people and the United States, but of the entire region.

And finally, we reaffirmed the Strategic Partnership that we signed last year in Kabul -- an enduring

partnership between two sovereign nations. This includes deepening ties of trade, commerce,

strengthening institutions, development, education and opportunities for all Afghans -- men and

women, boys and girls. And this sends a clear message to Afghans and to the region, as Afghans

stand up, they will not stand alone; the United States, and the world, stands with them.

Now, let me close by saying that this continues to be a very difficult mission. Our forces

continue to serve and make tremendous sacrifices every day. The Afghan people make significant

sacrifices every day. Afghan forces still need to grow stronger. We remain vigilant

against insider attacks. Lasting peace and security will require governance and development

that delivers for the Afghan people and an end to safe havens for al Qaeda and its ilk.

All this will continue to be our work.

But make no mistake -- our path is clear and we are moving forward. Every day, more Afghans

are stepping up and taking responsibility for their own security. And as they do, our

troops will come home. And next year, this long war will come to a responsible end.

President Karzai, I thank you and your delegation for the progress we’ve made together and

for your commitment to the goals that we share -- a strong and sovereign Afghanistan where

Afghans find security, peace, prosperity and dignity. And in pursuit of that future, Afghanistan

will have a long-term partner in the United States of America.

Mr. President.

PRESIDENT KARZAI: Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. President, for this very gracious

and warm welcome to me and the Afghan delegation on this visit to Washington, and for bearing

with us, as I mentioned during our talks in the Blair House, with all the crowds that

we have there.

The President and I discussed today in great detail all the relevant issues between the

two countries. I was happy to see that we have made progress on some of the important

issues for Afghanistan. Concerning Afghan sovereignty, we agreed on the complete return

of detention centers and detainees to Afghan sovereignty, and that this will be implemented

soon after my return to Afghanistan. We also discussed all aspects of transition to Afghan

governance and security.

I'm very happy to hear from the President, as we also discussed it earlier, that in spring

this year the Afghan forces will be fully responsible for providing security and protection

to the Afghan people, and that the international forces, the American forces will be no longer

present in Afghan villages, that the task will be that of the Afghan forces to provide

for the Afghan people in security and protection.

We also agreed on the steps that we should be taking in the peace process, which is of

highest priority to Afghanistan. We agreed on allowing a Taliban office in Qatar -- in

Doha, where the Taliban will engage in direct talks with the representatives of the Afghan

High Council for Peace, where we will be seeking the help of relevant regional countries, including

Pakistan -- where we’ll be trying our best, together with the United States and our other

allies, to return peace and stability to Afghanistan as soon as possible, and employing all the

means that we have within our power to do that, so the Afghan people can live in security

and peace and work for their prosperity and educate their children.

The President and I also discussed the economic transition of Afghanistan and all that entails

for Afghanistan. Once the transition to Afghan forces is completed, once the bulk of the

international forces have withdrawn from Afghanistan, we hope that the dividends of that transition

economically to Afghanistan will be beneficial to the Afghan people, and will not have adverse

effects on Afghan economy and the prosperity that we have gained in the past many years.

We also discussed the issue of election in Afghanistan and the importance of election

for the Afghan people, with the hope that we’ll be conducting a free and fair election

in Afghanistan where our friends in the international community -- in particular, the United States

-- will be assisting in conducting those elections, of course; where Afghanistan will have the

right environment for conducting elections without interference and without undue concern

in that regard for the Afghan people.

We also discussed in a bit of detail, and in the environment that we have, all aspects

of the bilateral security agreement between Afghanistan and the United States, and I informed

the President that the Afghan people already in the Loya Jirga that we called for -- the

Strategic Partnership Agreement between us and the United States -- have given their

approval to this relationship and the value as one that is good for Afghanistan. So in

that context, the bilateral security agreement is one that the Afghan people approve. And

I'm sure we will conduct it in detail where both the interests of the United States and

the interests of Afghanistan will be kept in mind.

We had a number of other issues also to talk about. During our conversations, and perhaps

many times in that conversation, beginning with the conversation, of course, I thanked

the President for the help that the United States has given to the Afghan people, for

all that we have gained in the past 10 years, and that those gains will be kept by any standard

while we are working for peace and stability in Afghanistan, including the respect for

Afghan constitution.

I also thanked the President and endorsed with him the sacrifices of American men and

women in uniform and those of other countries. Accordingly, I also informed President Obama

of the sacrifices of the Afghan people -- of the immense sacrifices of the Afghan people

in the past 10 years, both for the servicemen and of the Afghan people.

I’ll be going back to Afghanistan this evening to bring to the Afghan people the news of

Afghanistan standing shoulder to shoulder with America as a sovereign, independent country,

but in cooperation and in partnership.

Thank you, Mr. President, for the hospitality.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you very much, Mr. President.

Okay, we’ve got two questions each I think from U.S. and Afghan press. I will start with

Scott Wilson of The Washington Post.

Q Thank you, Mr. President and President Karzai.

Mr. President, does moving up the deadline for the transition to an Afghan security role

lead in the spring mean you’ll be winding down U.S. troops faster than you expected

this year? And as specifically as possible, how many troops do you expect to leave in

Afghanistan beyond 2014 for the two missions you outlined? And would you consider leaving

any troops in Afghanistan beyond that date without an immunity agreement for their actions?

And, President Karzai, you’ve spoken often about the threat the American presence in

Afghanistan poses to your nation’s sovereignty. I’m wondering if you will be considering

and working on behalf of an immunity agreement to preserve some U.S. forces in Afghanistan

after the 2014 date, and how many U.S. troops you would accept after that time.

Thank you.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Scott, our first task has been to meet the transition plan that we set

first in Lisbon, then in Chicago. And because of the progress that’s been made by our

troops, because of the progress that’s been made in terms of Afghan security forces, their

capacity to take the lead, we are able to meet those goals and accelerate them somewhat.

So let me repeat: What’s going to happen this spring is that Afghans will be in the

lead throughout the country. That doesn’t mean that coalition forces, including U.S.

forces, are no longer fighting. They will still be fighting alongside Afghan troops.

It does mean, though, that Afghans will have taken the lead, and our presence, the nature

of our work will be different. We will be in a training, assisting, advising role.

Obviously, we will still have troops there and that means that our men and women will

still be in harm’s way, that there will still be the need for force protection. The

environment is going to still be very dangerous. But what we’ve seen is, is that Afghan soldiers

are stepping up, at great risk to themselves, and that allows us then to make this transition

during the spring.

What that translates into precisely in terms of how this drawdown of U.S. troop proceeds

is something that isn’t yet fully determined. I’m going to be over the coming weeks getting

recommendations from General Allen and other commanders on the ground. They will be designing

and shaping a responsible plan to make sure that we’re not losing the gains that have

already been made, to make sure that we’re in a position to support Afghan units when

they’re in theater, and to make sure that our folks are also protected even as we’re

drawing down.

So I can’t give you a precise number at this point. I’ll probably make a separate

announcement once I’ve gotten recommendations from troop -- from the generals and our commanders

in terms of what that drawdown might look like.

With respect to post-2014, we’ve got two goals -- and our main conversation today was

establishing a meeting of the minds in terms of what those goals would be with a follow-on

presence of U.S. troops. Number one, to train, assist, and advise Afghan forces so that they

can maintain their own security; and number two, making sure that we can continue to go

after remnants of al Qaeda or other affiliates that might threaten our homeland.

That is a very limited mission, and it is not one that would require the same kind of