ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)
President Barack Obama on Saturday (December 13) gave thanks to the men and women in uniform ahead of the combat mission's end in Afghanistan.
"Since our nation was attacked on 9/11, these men and women, like so many others in uniform, have met every mission we've asked of them. They deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq," Obama said in his weekly presidential address. "In more than a decade of war, this 9/11 Generation has worked with the Afghan people to help them reclaim their communities and prevent terrorist attacks against our own country."
Foreign troops in Afghanistan will wind up their combat missions by Dec. 31. The International Security Assistance Joint Command, which ran the coalition combat operations in Afghanistan, then will hand over to a much reduced international support and training mission that begins on Jan. 1.
