(KCEN) -- President Obama says he will speed up troop withdrawal in Afghanistan.
He and Afghanistan's president laid out their plans at a joint press conference in Washington today.
Things will accelerate by a few months.
The President says American troops will switch to a training, advising and assisting role by the spring rather than the summer.
They will still be fighting alongside Afghan forces, but the Afghan forces will take over combat leadership.
SIxty-six-thousand troops are deployed right now.
President Obama says the war will come to an by the 2014 deadline.
He said, "Our core objective, the reason we went to war in the first place, is now within reach, insuring that al Qaeda can never again use Afghanistan to launch attacks against our country."
The war has cost more than 2,000 American troops their lives.
Of those who made it home, 18,000 are wounded.
