Panetta says U.S. will have ‘enduring presence’ in Afghanistan after drawdown [View all]
Source: Washington Post
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said in an interview broadcast Sunday that the United States would have an enduring presence in Afghanistan after 2014, when there will be a major troop drawdown.
He also pushed back against reports that the Taliban is gaining strength in that country.
“Well, the most important point is that we’re not going anyplace. We’re gonna, we have an enduring presence that will be in Afghanistan,” Panetta said on ABC News’s “This Week.”
“We’ll continue to work with them on counterterrorism. We’ll continue to provide training, assistance, guidance. We’ll continue to provide support,” he said. “We are making good progress. I mean, the Taliban, my view is that they have been weakened. We have not seen them able to conduct any kind of organized attack to regain any territory that they’ve lost. We’ve seen levels of violence going down. We’ve seen an Afghan army that is much more capable at providing security.”
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/panetta-warns-both-parties-on-defense-budget-cuts/2012/05/26/gJQA5ZtDuU_story.html
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