Romney backs Obama’s Afghan drawdown plan

U.S. President Barack Obama (R) debates with Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney at the Keith C. and Elaine Johnson Wold Performing Arts Center at Lynn University on October 22, 2012 in Boca Raton, Florida. The focus for the final presidential debate before Election Day on November 6 is foreign policy. Marc Serota/AFP

BOCA RATON, Florida—Republican Mitt Romney is backing President Barack Obama’s plan to pull American troops out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

Romney says the Afghan troop surge that Obama ordered has been successful and a training program for Afghan forces is on track. As a result, he says the U.S. will be able to make a transition at the end of 2014 and make sure U.S. troops come home.

The Republican nominee has previously criticized Obama for setting a timeline for ending the war.

Obama tripled the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan upon taking office. He has said the U.S. will maintain a civilian presence in Afghanistan after its military operations end.