White house: Afghan exit plan is key

US White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has drawn a line under future military involvement in Afghanistan. He says after eight years, the US will not be in the country for another eight or nine years.

The White House says President Barack Obama is placing heavy emphasis on how the United States will eventually withdraw from the country even as he plans to announce a troop increase next week.

Gibbs says Obama's recent meetings with military advisers have often focused on how to train Afghanistan's police and army, so they can secure and hold areas taken from the Taliban after US forces are gone. Obama will address the US Tuesday night on his Afghan strategy.