Editorial: Is This the Afghan Warâ€™s Last Chapter?

President Obama said on Friday that the United States is moving toward a "responsible end" to the war in Afghanistan that has lasted for 12 years. At a news conference, he and President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan filled in some details on how they would get there, but there are still many questions that must be addressed.

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The first order of business should be accelerating the withdrawal of the 66,000 American troops remaining in Afghanistan so that it can be completed by the end of the year. Mr. Obama said, as he previously has, that the troops will be withdrawn at a "steady pace," but he again gave no details. In fact, he suggested it may be months before there is a decision.

On other fronts, Mr. Obama and Mr. Karzai reported some progress. They agreed to accelerate the handover of combat operations from NATO to Afghan forces by this spring rather than summer — a small but encouraging advance. Even after that transition, Americans will still fight alongside the Afghan troops when needed, but the Americans will focus on training, advising and assisting their Afghan counterparts, Mr. Obama said.

Mr. Karzai supported this change, saying that it would allow American troops to stop patrolling Afghan villages. He also applauded an agreement to turn over control of prisons that house terrorism suspects from the United States to Afghanistan. Mr. Karzai said that these steps, which the Afghans consider important to regaining full sovereignty over their country, would enable him to support a demand by the Obama administration that all American troops remaining in the country after 2014 be granted immunity from prosecution under Afghan law.

As for the size of the force after 2014, the White House has indicated that it is considering a range of 3,000 to 9,000 troops, which would be far lower than the Pentagon's high-end proposal of 20,000 troops. Mr. Obama sounded as though he intends to keep enough there to carry out what he described as "a very limited mission" of training Afghan forces and hunting down remnants of Al Qaeda. Mr. Karzai reportedly has been counting on a force of 15,000, but that seems unlikely and strikes us as far too high.

The two leaders reaffirmed support for negotiations with the Taliban, which have shown tentative promise in recent months, and they endorsed the establishment of a Taliban office in Qatar, which could facilitate peace talks. Mr. Karzai also promised to step down as president next year as the Constitution requires and to work toward a free and fair election, but whether he will keep those vows is an open question.

The American plan for an end to the war depends heavily on Afghan forces that can secure the country. Mr. Obama oversold how much they have improved and played down serious weaknesses. But he has rightly narrowed America's goal in Afghanistan. And now he needs to withdraw the 66,000 troops as soon as possible.