Joe Biden announced that the final withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan would begin on 1 May and be completed before the 20th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The US's Nato allies would also withdraw from the country, bringing an end to nearly two decades of war that killed more than 2,200 US troops, wounded 20,000, and cost as much as $1 trillion (£720bn).
The announcement was made in the same room where George W Bush first announced the invasion of Afghanistan. Mr Biden said he spoke to Bush and received his full support. Barack Obama also supported the withdrawal as "the right decision".
Biden said the Forever War was never meant to be a multi-generational undertaking, and the US's mission was accomplished 10 years ago with the death of Osama bin Laden.
Over the past 20 years, the terrorist threat became more dispersed and metastasized around the globe while thousands of troops remained in a single country at the cost of billions, Biden said.
"We were attacked, we went to war with clear goals, we achieved those objectives, Bin Laden is dead and Al Qaeda is degraded in Iraq, in Afghanistan. It’s time to end the forever war,” he said.
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