KABUL: The United States appears to have taken Kabul by surprise by announcing plans to end its Afghan combat role earlier than expected, and coinciding with a secret report that the Taliban is confident it can grab back control of the ravaged country.
US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, speaking on Wednesday, said the United States would stop combat operations before the end of 2013 as it winds down its longest war.
‘A decision to push this a year earlier throws out the whole transition plan. The transition has been planned against a timetable and this makes us rush all our preparations,’ a senior Afghan security official, who could not be named because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, told Reuters on Thursday.
The United States, which led the NATO invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, has previously said it would withdraw most combat troops by the end of 2014.
Panetta said the US troops would shift next year to a supporting role, training and advising Afghan troops who would take charge of a country that has been at war for more than three decades.
A faster end to US combat in Afghanistan could give President Barack Obama an election-year lift. (Reuters)
