US Defense Secretary Panetta Announces Afghanistan Withdrawal

According to an American media report on Feb. 23, on Feb. 22 U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta confirmed the schedule of the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. The United States has determined that after the general election in Afghanistan in April 2014, all troops will be withdrawn, which will signal the end of the war in Afghanistan.

Panetta is currently in Brussels attending NATO ministerial meetings. At the meetings, NATO officials have been discussing several options for how troops will be stationed in Afghanistan after 2014. Panetta said that the United States decided to retain more than 60,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan in the spring and summer of 2013, will reduce the number to 34,000 U.S. troops in April 2014 before the general election, and finally will withdraw all U.S. military personnel after April. U.S. President Barack Obama announced in his State of the Union speech that around 34,000 troops, half of the U.S. troops currently stationed in Afghanistan, would be returned in the next year.

Panetta believes that the current Afghan army’s combat effectiveness has been constantly improving and that it will smoothly obtain secure control in the spring of this year and play a leading role in combat operations. After the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan in 2014, the Afghan government army will likely be expanded to 240,000 troops. Considering the current security situation, the United States believes that this army could expand to 352,000 troops by 2018.

Analysts have pointed out that President Barack Obama claimed during the NATO Chicago Summit in May 2012 that the United States would withdraw all troops by the end of 2014 and end the war in Afghanistan. Subsequent small numbers of U.S. troops were to stay in Afghanistan and continue to weaken insurgents, while at the same time providing training and equipment for the Afghan army.

Since October 2001, the United States has been sending troops to fight in the war in Afghanistan, which has been taking place for 11 years, surpassing the full terms of two U.S. presidents. Approximately 66,000 U.S. troops are currently stationed in Afghanistan. Combined with NATO troops and other stationed ally troops, there is a total of around 100,000 troops stationed in Afghanistan. In addition to the troop withdrawal schedule, another issue of concern is whether or not the U.S. military staying behind can obtain legal immunity in Afghanistan. Beginning in late 2012, the United States started negotiating with Afghanistan in order to hopefully reach an agreement on the matter by 2013. The United States has always held the conviction that it does not intend to set up permanent military bases in Afghanistan, and so seeks immunity from prosecution under Afghanistan’s legal system for troops left behind after 2014.