Fear, relief in Afghanistan at US withdrawal plan

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan's president welcomed Barack Obama's announcement that the U.S. would bring home 33,000 troops over the next year, with the Afghan leader asserting his forces were ready to take over as the U.S. moves toward a full withdrawal of combat forces.

President Hamid Karzai, who has warned the U.S. and NATO they risk becoming occupiers after nearly 10 years of war, called the drawdown "a good measure" in a speech Thursday and asserted that the Afghan youth would guard their nation against Taliban and other insurgents who have just begun a new offensive.

Outside the capital, in the Taliban's former southern heartland and in the increasingly volatile …