US President Barack Obama has announced his plan to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan. In a nationally televised speech this morning, President Obama said 10,000 US troops will be withdrawn by the end of this year and a total of 33,000 by the summer next year. He said that after the initial reduction, more troops will be pulled out of Afghanistan at a steady pace as Afghans take over their own security by 2014. In his 13 minute speech, Obama said al Qaeda is under more pressure than at any time since the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York. He said, the United States will join initiatives aimed at reconciling the Afghan people, including the Taliban, as the Afghan government and security forces are strengthened. He described the withdrawal of US forces a beginning of effort to wind down this war. Meanwhile Afghanistan has said that its army has enough capacity and ability to shoulder the responsibility of security of the nation after the withdrawal of foreign forces from the country. Speaking in a press conference in Kabul yesterday Defence Ministry spokesman General Mohammed Zahir Azimi said that in the transition period there may be suicide attacks and bomb blasts, but Afghan forces are prepared to replace the foreign forces.