Let's Hope They Get More Time Than Last Time

When the combat role wound down in Iraq, and the training role was emphasized, the troops there barely got 2 years to do what they could before leaving Iraq in a Rube Goldbergian set of political machinations. Let's hope that with the announcement of the 2013 shift to training that the 2014 "see-ya" date isn't that hard and fast. I mean, the Afghans haven't even learned to wipe shit in a toilet yet, and we expect them to secure their own country?

The US will seek to wind down combat operations in Afghanistan during 2013, more than a year before a deadline for withdrawal, the defence secretary says.

Speaking while travelling to a Nato summit, Leon Panetta said the US hoped to switch to a role training and supporting Afghan forces.

It is the most detailed public indication of when US troops might pull back from America's longest war.

Some 68,000 troops are due to remain in Afghanistan after the end of 2012.

There are currently some 99,000 US troops in the country, with 22,000 scheduled to return home during this year.

Until now, though, there had been little information how the Pentagon planned to manage the main bulk of the drawdown, committing only to a full withdrawal of troops by the end of 2014.

By: Brant