Obama begins planning Afghanistan pull-out

President Obama and aides discussed plans to begin pulling U.S. troops out of Afghanistan this July at their national security meeting yesterday, aides said.

"The bulk of the meeting was spent discussing our goals for Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2011, goals and objectives and how we're going to meet those," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.

As for the withdrawal of U.S. troops, Gibbs referred to the president's comments during his State of the Union Address:

"This year, we will work with nearly 50 countries to begin a transition to an Afghan lead. And this July, we will begin to bring our troops home."

Obama referred to an agreement in which the U.S. and its global allies, including NATO, will gradually transfer security responsibilities to the Afghanistan government, a process to end in 2014.

The success of the transfer will likely dictate the pace of the U.S. withdrawal, and how many troops come home when.

When Obama announced in December 2009 the deployment of 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, he also said the withdrawal process would begin in July 2011.

That plan is on track, an aide said.

Here is Gibbs' read-out of yesterday's national security meeting:

The President got an update on the situation on the ground in Afghanistan, both from a counter-terrorism perspective as well as the security situation in Afghanistan. The bulk of the meeting was spent discussing our goals for Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2011, goals and objectives and how we're going to meet those. That was the bulk of what the team went through this morning with the President.

And, look, I think the assessment of where we are security-wise is not a lot different than when you heard the President in here during the AfPak review, that we've -- while we've seen progress, we understand that that progress is -- can be reversed if we don't continue to take the steps to ensure that as we clear, that we hold, that we build, and that ultimately the goal, as enumerated in Lisbon, begin to transfer those security operations back to the Afghan government, the Afghan people, and we see an increase in the training and their security forces.

Here is Obama's full comments about Afghanistan during the State of the Union Address:

We've also taken the fight to al-Qaeda and their allies abroad. In Afghanistan, our troops have taken Taliban strongholds and trained Afghan security forces. Our purpose is clear: By preventing the Taliban from reestablishing a stranglehold over the Afghan people, we will deny al-Qaeda the safe haven that served as a launching pad for 9/11.

Thanks to our heroic troops and civilians, fewer Afghans are under the control of the insurgency. There will be tough fighting ahead, and the Afghan government will need to deliver better governance. But we are strengthening the capacity of the Afghan people and building an enduring partnership with them. This year, we will work with nearly 50 countries to begin a transition to an Afghan lead. And this July, we will begin to bring our troops home.