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U.S. starts to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan
The U.S. will start withdrawing troops from Afghanistan in July, 2011
The country will see 10,000 U.S. troops leave by the end of this year, and the rest of the additional forces President Obama dispatched to Afghanistan in late 2009 head out by September 2012.
Obama's planned drawdown of 33,000 U.S. troops will end at the end of 2012.
Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai welcomed Obama's speech, saying the drawdown announcement signaled the start of Afghanistan's self-determination.
Every nation protects its own land, and Afghans can do it better," he said in a statement. "We have proved it over the course of history, and we are proud of that."
