Obama: American People Didn’t Sign Up To Make Afghanistan A ‘Protectorate’

President Barack Obama
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In an interview with 60 Minutes, set to air this Sunday, President Obama explains why he is setting a timetable for withdrawal in Afghanistan: That he will not make Afghanistan a “protectorate” of the United States — and he says that there are Afghans who would like to see this happen, with the United States taking up their defense expenses.

“The answer is that in the absence of a deadline, the message we are sending to the Afghans is, it’s business as usual, this is an open-ended commitment,” said Obama. “And very frankly, I think there are elements in Afghanistan who would be perfectly satisfied to make Afghanistan a permanent protectorate of the United States — in which they carry no burden, in which we are paying for a military in Afghanistan that preserves their security and their prerogatives. That’s not what the American people signed off for when they went to Afghanistan in 2001. They signed up to go after al-Qaeda.”

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