The two leader shook hands after signing the agreement at Karzai’s palace.

Obama, recognized that there will be difficult days ahead for Afghanistan, but said the Afghan people were taking control of their own future, alJazeera reported.

After his meeting with President Karzai at the Presidential Palace in Kabul, President Obama headed to Bagram Air Base, where he met with U.S. troops serving in that country. He thanked them for the sacrifices that they have made and paid tribute to their successes.

“Today, I signed a historic agreement between the United States and Afghanistan that defines a new kind of relationship between our countries,” Obama said in his speech on Tuesday, addressing the American people  from the Bagram air base in Afghanistan.

The agreement details how the partnership will be normalized as the war comes to an end. “Just as we did in Iraq, we’re focused on building an enduring partnership with Afghanistan that strengthens Afghan sovereignty, stability and prosperity while advancing, of course, our shared goals of defeating al Qaeda and contributing to the security of this region,” Obama said in a press briefing.

The partnership also spells out the US relationship with Afghanistan beyond 2014, covering security, economics and governance, according to Reuters.

The visit comes on both the one-year anniversary of the death of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a raid in Pakistan.

Meanwhile, ties between Kabul and Washington have strained since last May amid a series of massacres and incidents by U.S. troops against Afghan civilians.

The last of the remaining 87,000 American troops in the country are due to pull out by the end of 2014, almost 13 years after the Sept. 11 attacks.