Afghanistan: Obama’s State of the Union talking points. No. 5: Ending the war in Afghanistan --- State of the Union addresses during President Obama’s five years in office have never had the question of America’s place in the world as a centerpiece. This State of the Union will be no different given that it begins the last year Obama can plausibly expect real progress on his domestic agenda, at least when it comes to working with a divided Congress. -- But on Tuesday night before a prime-time audience, he will be able to highlight a milestone in America’s long post-Sept. 11, 2001, period of war and terrorism – a stretch of time he once called “a season of fear.” The U.S. military’s participation in the Afghanistan war – this nation’s longest - will conclude at the end of the year. -- Obama is still hoping his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai, will sign the negotiated agreement setting out the U.S. military role beyond 2014. That could include leaving as many as 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan to serve a mostly training and counter-terrorism mission. It is uncertain whether Karzai will do so, and if not, the U.S. military departs in full by default. -- Ending America’s military involvement in Afghanistan – after doing the same in Iraq two years ago – will be a part of Obama’s historic legacy. Both nations are still fragile, violent, and politically fraught. But the end of the U.S. war in Afghanistan, at least as it has been fought for the past dozen years, will likely mark a promises-kept note in the State of the Union and a warning of sorts to Karzai.