AFGHANISTAN: TROOPS DRAWDOWN.

President Barack Obama last night announced the withdrawal of 10,000 troops of U.S. military forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2011; and that must be good news to many American families, whose members have been fighting the Taliban Islamic insurgency since 2001, after the terrorist attacks on The World Trade Center in New York City and The Pentagon in Washington D.C.

It (Afghanistan) has been a safe haven for terrorist; and particularly for the erstwhile Osama bin Laden, who has used it as a base to plot the WTC/Pentagon attacks; and so, there was ample reason for America to put a check on the activities of the Taliban, which has allowed such a situation to have developed.

The U.S. had somewhat partnered with the insurrection against the Soviet invasion in December of 1979; but when the Taliban took over Afghanistan, it brought in its own archaic laws, as well as making it a training ground for radical Islamists groups, such as Al-qaeda

Hence, the U.S. became fully involved in that Central Asian country that has seen more wars and tribal conflicts than any other in that region, dating back from the times of Alexander the Great to the present. However, its involvement, to be precise, has stemmed from the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. mainland.

The announcement must have come at an opportune time, because the surge that took place in 2009 has been successful in reducing hostilities to permit such an action; and also 300,000 Afghan security forces continued to be trained under U.S. forces, to defend and protect their country under President Hamid Karzai, whose government was said to be froth with a culture of corruption.

With even a central government in place, Afghanistan has been unstable, due to tribal loyalties and allegiances; and those influences would continue to fan the political flames in that country.

In other words, true political power was kept in the hands or under the control of those tribal warlords and chieftains; and so, conditions, which made the country to remain volatile still existed.

They have made Afghans ungovernable, even by an elected government of which Hamid Kazai happened to be its president. The situation there remained tenuous, if not precarious, to say the least. Therefore, the U.S. must not completely lose its grip on that country by maximum troops withdrawal or drawdown.

As Afghanistan has been such a bastard case in the past, the U.S. could not afford to be complacent in monitoring the affairs that would ensue in the aftermath of removing a large number of troops, whose main objective was to protect its (U.S.'s) national interest in that part of the world.

Afghanistan could not stand on its own; and with nuclear armed Pakistan and India to boot, the region could be considered as one liable to be a "clear and present danger" to U.S. National Security for quite sometime.

President Obama's announcement has been met with mixed feelings; with some saying that it was too early for such a move on the part of the U.S. They thought he was taking his eyes off the ball, so to speak. Others have welcomed it with glee and open arms, for their fathers and mothers, and other relatives were returning home after long absences.

Well done, U.S. Military Forces; and welcome home.