President Obama said today he has ordered a full investigation into the weekend shootings in Afghanistan and indicated he will not change plans to have all troops out of the war-torn country in 2014.

Saying he met yesterday with his top general and ambassador in Afghanistan, Obama said the United States takes the shootings "as seriously as if this were our own citizens and our own children who were murdered."

Obama noted that 23,000 troops are scheduled to be withdrawn by the end of the summer, on top of 10,000 soldiers withdrawn last year.

During his brief remarks in the White House Rose Garden, Obama did not specifically mention the year 2014. That is when the United States and its allies, including NATO, plan to pull out the remainder of the troops and turn all security operations over to the Afghan government.

Some Obama allies have said the withdrawal process should be accelerated after the weekend shootings in which a U.S. soldier is accused of abandoning his post in southern Afghanistan and gunning down 19 civilians, including children.

In discussing the investigation of those killings, Obama said he assured Afghan President Hamid Karzai that it will be thorough.