Panetta sees 2013 end to Afghan combat role

BRUSSELS, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Wednesday the goal is to end U.S. and NATO combat operations in Afghanistan by late next year.

Panetta's comments, made to reporters accompanying him to Brussels where he is attending NATO meetings this week, mark the first time the Obama administration has placed the potential end to the U.S. and NATO combat role in 2013, The Washington Post reported.

Panetta said U.S. and NATO leaders foresee a transition to a support and training role in Afghanistan where the war began Oct. 7, 2001, in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaida terror attacks on the United States.

"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," the defense secretary said.

While Afghanistan's military capacity to fight the ongoing Taliban insurgency in the war-torn country has improved, the United States' support will still be vital, Panetta said.

"It's still a pretty robust role that we'll be engaged in," he said. "It's not going to be a kind of formal combat role that we are now. That doesn't mean that we're not going to be combat ready. We will be because we always have to be in order to defend ourselves."

U.S. and NATO troops will stay in Afghanistan through the 2014 deadline NATO has set, the Post said. U.S. troops would likely remain in Afghanistan indefinitely beyond that to execute counterterrorism efforts and support Afghan forces, Panetta aid.

"We're committed to an enduring presence there," he said.