By the end of what year do you expect all troops out of Afghanistan?

White
House press secretary Jay Carney on Sunday said the U.S. would transfer
security to Afghan troops by the end of 2014 and that recent statements
from President Obama did not mean that U.S. troops would be out of the
country by that date.

Carney’s remarks came after President Obama
said on Saturday that he had a “specific plan to bring our troops home
from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.”

“We are in the process of doing that right now," Obama had said at a campaign rally in Sioux City, Iowa.

But on Sunday, Carney clarified those remarks, saying that Obama had “never said that all the troops would be out.”

“This
is a NATO-endorsed strategy that foresees full transition to Afghan
security lead in Afghanistan by 2014,” Carney told a press gaggle aboard
Air Force One en route to Toledo, Ohio, where the president will hold a
campaign rally tomorrow. “That is a NATO policy that has been put in
place for quite some time now. And part of that is drawing down our
forces.”

“Everyone understands what the President’s policy is,
which is a full transition to Afghan security lead by 2014,” said
Carney. “We have been abundantly clear about the stages of the
implementation of that policy. And as in Iraq, that means that while
not all U.S. troops will have withdrawn necessarily by then, the Afghan
Security Forces will be in full security transition, I mean, will be in
full security lead, and U.S. forces will continue to be drawn down.”

The
U.S. is set to hand over responsibility for security to local Afghans
by 2014, and efforts are underway to draw down U.S. forces, but the
president has not specified a date for the withdrawal of all American
troops from the country.