Leon Panetta to meet Karzai today

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Leon Panetta to meet Karzai today

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US Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta will meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday.

14 December,2011 06:21 am

Panettas two-day visit to Afghanistan comes as Washington starts to withdraw combat troops and hand over security to Afghan forces, who are due to take full control by the end of 2014.It also comes after Americas fragile alliance with Pakistan plunged into further crisis when NATO air strikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers near the Afghan border on November 26.Arriving in Kabul on Tuesday Panetta said he believed 2011 would mark a turning point in Afghanistan where troops have been able to reduce the levels of violence.A senior US defence official speaking on condition of anonymity said the meeting with Wardak would focus on the increasing role of Afghan security forces as transition moves forward and they begin to take the lead.Panetta met General John Allen, the US commander in Afghanistan, on Tuesday who said US troops would increasingly turn to a more advisory role as security is handed over.We are going to probably see the introduction, timely yet to be determined, of some advisory forces to support ANSF (Afghan National Security Forces) formations from inside, Allen said.The United States has announced the withdrawal of 10,000 of its roughly 100,000 troops by the end of the year, while 23,000 others will leave the country by the end of September 2012 after the summer fighting season.The number corresponds to the 33,000 surge troops ordered in by President Barack Obama in late 2009 in a bid to reverse the Taliban insurgency, defeat Al-Qaeda and quicken an end to the war.Panetta said it was important to reach out to Pakistan, where US officials want Islamabad to dismantle Afghan militant havens.