Defense Secretary Leon Panetta reported on Wednesday that the U.S. and NATO are looking to end their combat mission in Afghanistan by 2013, leaving Afghan security forces to take the lead. According to transcripts released by the Pentagon, Panetta said, “Our goal is to complete all of that transition in 2013 and then, hopefully, by mid- to the latter part of 2013, we’ll be able to make a transition from a combat role to a training, advise and assist role.” Panetta said the result will be that “2014 then becomes a year of consolidating the transition and making sure that those gains are in fact held, so that we can move towards a more enduring presence beyond 2014.”
With the Defense Secretary’s pitch, the transition would come a year before the 2014 deadline, which was set by the Obama administration, to end the war in Afghanistan. Panetta reported that “nothing is final” until leaders of the NATO countries assemble in Chicago in May.
