Lt. Gen. David Rodriguez, the No. 2 U.S. officer in Afghanistan, steps down from his post Monday. The commander met last month with U.S. troops in Helmand Province.
NPR's Tom Bowman and photographer David Gilkey spent a some time with him at Camp Dwyer, a desert base in Helmand Province. Tom was there when Rodriguez gave a pep-talk of sorts to several dozen Marines. He talked to Rodriguez about what's next for the U.S. in Afghanistan, especially after President Obama announced his plans to withdraw 10,000 troops.
Rodriguez said they'll face tough choices, but increasingly the mission in Afghanistan will become more about the "government than it is troops." And the American military can only create the conditions for a better Afghan government.
You can listen to Bowman's piece at the top of this post.
And David sent along these pictures of one of the general's last weeks in Afghanistan:
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