Obama says goal of defeating Al Qaeda 'within reach'

Kabul, May 2 (ANI): US President Barack Obama, on a surprise visit to Afghanistan, has claimed that America's goal to defeat Al-Qaeda and deny the terror group a chance to rebuild was now 'within reach'.

"The goal that I set, to defeat Al Qaeda and deny it a chance to rebuild, is now within our reach," Fox News quoted Obama, as saying.

According to the report, Obama used the address to offer assurances to both countries, to America that the war will soon be over; and to Afghanistan that its forces will be independent but not left dangling in the wind.

"As you stand up, you will not stand alone," Obama said in a line directed at the Afghans.

Obama spoke about the course and eventual conclusion of both the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, insisting that the US' role after 2014 will be limited.

"The U.S. will not build 'permanent bases' in Afghanistan, and has no intention of building 'a country in America's image'," the report quoted him, as saying.

"We've traveled through more than a decade under the dark cloud of war. Yet here, in the pre-dawn darkness of Afghanistan, we can see the light of a new day on the horizon," he added. (ANI)