US combat in Afghanistan to end next year: Panetta

BRUSSELS: Defence Secretary Leon Panetta laid out the administration’s most explicit portrayal of the US drawdown in Afghanistan, saying Wednesday that US and other international forces in Afghanistan expect to end their combat role in 2013 and continue a training and advisory role with Afghan forces through 2014. Panetta’s remarks to reporters travelling with him to a Nato defence ministers meeting in Brussels showed how the foreign military role in Afghanistan is expected to evolve from the current high-intensity fight against the Taliban to a support role with Afghans fully in the lead. The timeline fits neatly into the US political calendar, enabling President Barack Obama to declare on the campaign trail this year...

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Posted in: INTERNATIONAL