US President Obama and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai have held meetings in Washington to discuss the conditions of the American withdrawal from the country.

The US plans to pull troops out of Afghanistan by 2014.

Obama announced a change in the role of US troops in the country:

“Our troops will continue to fight alongside Afghans when needed, but let me say it as plainly as I can, starting this spring our troops will have a different mission, training, advising, assisting Afghan forces. President Karzai updated me on the Afghan government’s roadmap to peace. Today we agreed that this process should be advanced by a Taliban office to facilitate talks,” said President Obama.

During the meeting President Karzai confirmed he would be stepping down at the end of 2014.

“And certainly I will be a retired president, and very happily a retired president,” he quipped.