Vacationing Pres. Obama releases statement marking formal end of the war in Afghanistan

Mission accomplished? The U.S. and NATO have “formally” ended the war in Afghanistan:

After 13 years and 2,224 U.S. troop deaths, America formally ends the war in Afghanistan – http://t.co/qXmXAUsF2i pic.twitter.com/3MfYYs0CYL

— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 28, 2014

And President Obama took some time out of his busy vacation in Hawaii to … oh, who are we kidding. The White House released a statement. For real:

"Thanks to the extraordinary sacrifices of our men and women in uniform, our combat mission in Afghanistan is ending" pic.twitter.com/0nNdyMZzDJ

— White House Archived (@ObamaWhiteHouse) December 28, 2014

The war wasn’t won, but has ended with a “responsible conclusion.”

Full text here.

However, the president’s “responsible conclusion” really isn’t so concluded:

Unlike WWII, Korea, Vietnam and Iraq, we are leaving behind more troops in #Afghanistan (11k) than we deployed at start of war

— Rajiv Chandrasekaran (@rajivscribe) December 28, 2014

And this question from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Salena Zito needs to be answered:

Recommended

Maybe the Supreme Court Should ‘Take a Walk:’ A Deep Dive Into Thursday’s Oral Arguments

Aaron Walker

Advertisement

So asking for a friend obviously but anyone tell Taliban & other assorted bad guys or eventual ISIS types that US ended Afghanistan war?

— SalenaZito (@SalenaZito) December 28, 2014

Exactly (the not so much part) @joshrogin: U.S. and NATO Formally End War in Afghanistan http://t.co/lkyORE4ghl (Taliban not so much)

— SalenaZito (@SalenaZito) December 28, 2014

Yep. Just because the president says the combat mission is over doesn’t make it so.

***