No permanent military base in Afghanistan: Obama

Cairo: President Barack Obama says the United States has no intention of keeping its troops in Afghanistan and America seeks no permanent military bases there.

Obama calls it costly and politically difficult to continue the conflict. But he says there still are violent extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan who are determined to kill Americans.

Obama stressed that the US will not weaken its commitment to rooting out terrorists. But he says military must be paired with diplomatic efforts.

Obama also discussed Iraq in his speech to Muslims, saying that the United States learned from that war that America needs to use diplomacy and build international consensus to resolve problems whenever possible.