On his way to a NATO defense meeting in Brussels, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta told reporters the U.S. now plans to end combat operations in Afghanistan by next year. It is the first time an administration official has said that an end to direct U.S. involvement in combat could come that soon. In his policy speech on Afghanistan last summer, President Barack Obama said the transition to Afghan troops would take place in 2014.
Panetta told reporters, “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. It’s still a pretty robust role that we’ll be engaged in. It’s not going to be a kind of formal combat role that we are now.”
Duane Shank is Senior Policy Advisor for Sojourners. Follow Duane on Twitter @DShankDC.
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