VIDEO: Watch the President’s address to the Muslim world

CAIRO (AP) - 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 is stressing that the U.S. will not weaken its commitment to rooting out terrorists. But he says military might 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.

In his speeck, President Barack Obama said freedom of religion is central to peoples’ ability to live together.
   
He said Islam has a tradition of tolerance, something he saw firsthand as a child in Indonesia. Obama says people should be free to worship as they see fit and that Western countries should not impose restrictions on how Muslims practice their faith.
   
Obama acknowledges rules inside the United States have made it more difficult for American Muslims to donate to Islamic charities and says he is committed to ease such giving.
   
He says some Muslims measure their own faith by rejecting other’s beliefs, a notion he says he rejects.