The goal is to destroy ai-Qaeda from everywhere

Obama said his overriding goal is to dismantle the al-Qaeda network, to destroy their capacity to inflict harm not just on the US, but people of all faiths and all nationalities all around the world.

"Stability in Afghanistan and in Pakistan are critical to that mission," the President told mediapersons at the end of the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh.

He said after several years of drift in Afghanistan, "we now find ourselves in a situation in which you have strong commitments from the ISAF coalition, our NATO allies, all of them are committed to making this work".