President Barack Obama answered a key question with his strategic partnership agreement with Afghanistan, which he and Afghan President Hamid Karzai signed this week during the president's visit to that country. Obama committed the U.S. to financial and military aid to Afghanistan for the next decade, signaling that the U.S. will not simply abandon southwest Asia.

Most U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops are scheduled to be gone from Afghanistan by the end of 2014. The deal inked by the president leaves open the possibility that some troops will remain after that date, primarily to continue to train Afghan forces and aid in finishing off al-Qaida. The terrorist group had used Afghanistan as a training ground and staging area to launch attacks against the West.

That still leaves the Afghan population vulnerable to attacks by the home-grown Taliban, a ruthless Islamist group that would like to roll back whatever gains the country has made toward orderly government and equal treatment for women.

The president acknowledged that a majority of Americans are weary of war in Afghanistan, but the U.S. must wind down its presence in the country, as he said, "responsibly."

We cannot simply abandon people who have relied on our presence for more than a decade.

The partnership agreement does not specify the exact amount of financial or military aid that will be forthcoming over the next decade. Details will have to be worked out with Congress.

The president also acknowledged that the U.S. is willing to include the Taliban in talks about the future of the country, as long as it renounces violence.

The Taliban's immediate response was to launch a rocket and machine-gun attack on a compound housing Westerners outside Kabul, the Afghan capital, casting doubt on the likelihood of Taliban rehabilitation.

Karzai's government leaves much to be desired; it's widely seen as corrupt and incompetent. But so far, it represents the best opportunity for affording the Afghan people a modicum of freedom from fear and the U.S. a measure of protection against the country again serving as a launching pad for anti-Western terror.

This administration and its successors will have to walk a fine line in Afghanistan after 2014. Washington must maintain a credible presence in the region without being drawn into endless conflict. But that is the best outcome that can be hoped for.

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