KABUL - The US President Barack Obama on Monday reminded the Americans that the country is still at war, during a Memorial Day ceremony at the Arlington National Cemetery, where he paid tribute to the fallen men and women of the US armed services.

Barack Obama told the visitors that next year would mark the last Memorial Day of the US war in Afghanistan.

"Last Memorial Day, I stood here and spoke about how, for the first time in nine years, Americans were no longer fighting and dying in Iraq. Today, a transition is underway in Afghanistan, and our troops are coming home. Fewer Americans are making the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan, and that's progress for which we are profoundly grateful," Obama said.

"And this time next year, we will mark the final Memorial Day of our war in Afghanistan. And so, as I said last week, America stands at a crossroad. But even as we turn the page on a decade of conflict, even as we look forward, let us never forget, as we gather here today, that our nation is still at war," he said.

The US troops will leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014 after a complete handover of security responsibilities to the Afghan troops.

There are around 66,000 US troops in Afghanistan helping over 300,000 Afghan security forces fight insurgency.

The US has lost more than 2,000 soldiers in the Afghan war, since 2001.

Last week, Obama had called on the Congress to close Guantanamo Bay. Obama encouraged the use of diplomatic power to address the issue of terrorism originating from the region.

Obama called on the Congress to end the laws they passed, restricting the administration from moving the 166 captives who are held in the US jail for allegedly promoting terrorism in Cuba.

On Sunday, the Afghan President Hamid Karzai has urged the US to hand over all the Afghan detainees from Guantanamo prison.

"President Hamid Karzai welcomed the US President, Barack Obama's efforts to close the Guantanamo prison and transfer all the Afghan detainees to their country," Karzai's office said in a statement.

The US military prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, has been used to detain insurgents since the start of the US-led war in Afghanistan. (Tolo News)