Al-Qaeda Defeat ‘Within Reach,’ Panetta Says on Kabul Visit
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U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, predicting that “strategically defeating” al-Qaeda is within reach, is scheduled to meet with Afghan security officials and American troops on his second day in Afghanistan today.
Panetta is making his first visit as defense secretary with a focus on how to withdraw the 33,000 forces President Barack Obama ordered removed by September 2012 without losing recent gains against the Taliban.