In a major milestone toward ending a decade of war in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said on Wednesday that American forces would step back from a combat role there as early as mid-2013, more than a year before all American troops are scheduled to come home.

Mr. Panetta cast the decision as an orderly step in a withdrawal process long planned by the United States and its allies, but his comments were the first time that the United States had put a date on stepping back from its central role in the war. The defense secretary’s words reflected the Obama administration’s eagerness to bring to a close the second of two grinding ground wars it inherited from the Bush administration.

Promising the end of the American combat mission in Afghanistan next year would also give Mr. Obama a certain applause line in his re-election stump speech this year.

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Filed under: * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • Foreign Relations • Politics in General • War in Afghanistan

1. Br. Michael wrote: Why wait a year.  Let’s get out now. February 2, 9:14 am | [comment link]

2. sophy0075 wrote: God help every female Afghan, when the Taliban return to power. February 2, 1:03 pm | [comment link]

3. AnglicanFirst wrote: What was it that Yogi Berra said when when he had witnessed something that he had witnessed before? February 2, 1:37 pm | [comment link]

4. Capt. Father Warren wrote: This must be what victory looks like! February 2, 2:41 pm | [comment link]

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