Panetta backs significant Afghan withdrawal: "US defense secretary nominee Leon Panetta said Thursday he backed pulling a significant number of troops from Afghanistan next month, in a break with outgoing Pentagon chief Robert Gates.
'I agree with the president's statement,' Panetta told Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, a Democrat who had asked his view on President Barack Obama's pledge to announce a 'significant' draw-down next month.
While Panetta, the current CIA chief, repeatedly praised Gates and sought to assure the panel that he would follow in his footsteps, the answer seemed to put the two at odds as Washington works to put Afghans in charge of their own security by 2014."
