Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, en route to a NATO summit in Brussels, said Wednesday for the first time that U.S. forces will look to end combat operations in Afghanistan next year.
Panetta apparently tipped off the Obama administration’s timetable for combat operations, one which to date has not been made public. While U.S. and NATO forces still face a 2014 deadline to end the Afghan war, Panetta’s comments suggest the administration is looking to accelerate the phases of that transition.
The comments were reported in the Washington Post, and the Pentagon confirmed to Fox News that they are accurate.
It is the first time a senior Obama administration official has said the United States would end its combat role next year.
According to a senior U.S. official, it was an announcement that was supposed to be made in May at a NATO ministerial meeting in Chicago.
Panetta, it seems, may have gotten ahead of the administration on this, according to the official.
A senior U.S. defense official tried to clarify Panetta’s remarks, saying they were consistent with the Lisbon process, which calls for U.S. and NATO forces to leave Afghanistan at the end of 2014, and similar to the way U.S. forces transitioned out of Iraq.
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One Response
If we’ve already decided to give up and turn the country over to the Taliban and al Queda, why delay. In Iraq they held free elections, but that won’t work in Afghanistan.
Obama wasn’t interested or able in winning, and it will probably come back to haunt the Democrats for the next generation.