US to withdraw Afghan surge forces by summer 2012

ASHINGTON: President Barack Obama said Wednesday that all 33,000 US surge troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan by ‘next summer’ as a result of progress in the war against Taliban insurgents. 

In a televised address from the White House, Obama said that "we will be able to remove 10,000 of our troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year, and we will bring home a total of 33,000 by next summer."

Obama had ordered a 33,000-strong surge in reinforcements in December 2009 in a bid to turn around the troubled war against Taliban insurgents.