Panetta Discusses Operations in Afghanistan

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON – Most Afghan and NATO troops are now conducting normal partnered operations, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta announced during a news conference here today.

Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, had ordered that all combined operations below the battalion level be approved by regional commanders following attacks by Afghan soldiers and police that have killed 51 members of the coalition this year.

However, Afghan and coalition troops are now back to conducting partnered operations as before, Panetta told Pentagon reporters. The military believes some of the insider attacks were perhaps triggered by Muslim anger over an American-made internet video that defamed the Prophet Muhammad.

“I can now report to you that most ISAF units have returned to their normal partnered operations at all levels,” said Panetta, who was accompanied by Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Dempsey, just back from a visit to Afghanistan, said partnering efforts are back to the level they were before the difficulties. Around 90 percent of all operations in the country are partnered.

Even with the insider attacks, Panetta said the coalition and Afghan efforts are paying off. He said the Taliban were in control of large swaths of Afghanistan and were poised to take more when the coalition surge into the country began in December 2009.

Last week, the secretary announced the end of the surge, with the departure of the last of the 33,000 troops who were ordered deployed. There are now 68,000 American service members in Afghanistan.

“[The surge] accomplished the primary objectives of reversing the Taliban’s momentum on the battlefield and dramatically increased the size and capability of the Afghan national security forces,” Panetta said.

This will continue, said Dempsey, noting coalition troops will continue to partner with Afghan soldiers and police. The Taliban has failed to recover momentum or any territory. “Our Afghan partners are working with us to shut down the threat of insider attacks,” the chairman said. “As one Afghan army commander told me, insider attacks are an affront to their honor, at odds with their culture and their faith.”

Taliban insurgents are actively trying to infiltrate Afghan army and police formations, Dempsey said. The insurgent group is also trying to turn Afghan soldiers and police against their coalition allies.

Dempsey said coalition forces are adapting to the Taliban’s change in tactics.

“That’s what professional militaries do,” he said. “And we are doing it in a way that ensures we continue to be able to partner.”

The Taliban wants to break the coalition, the general said, but the coalition’s resolve to stand with Afghan formations is strong.

Still, it will be tough going in the country, Panetta said. “The enemy we are dealing with … is adaptive and resilient,” the secretary said. “Their focus has shifted to carrying out high-profile attacks in order to undermine the new sense of security that has been felt by ordinary Afghans.”

Panetta expects there will be more high-profile attacks like the one that struck Camp Bastion last week.

“The enemy will do whatever they can to try and break our will using this kind of tactic. That will not happen,” he said.

Afghan forces are the “defeat mechanism” of the insurgency, Panetta said.

“We have an enduring commitment to an Afghanistan that can secure and govern itself and that is never again a safe haven from which terrorists can attack us,” he said. “Our men and women in uniform, our fighting forces, ISAF, Afghanistan fighting forces I think have sent a strong message to the Taliban that time is not on their side.”

Partnered Coalition Operations Continue Despite Insider Attacks

By Nick Simeone

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Sept. 25, 2012 – Partnered operations between coalition and Afghan forces are continuing despite a decision by the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan to scale them back in response to a series of deadly insider attacks, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said today.

On Sept. 16, Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen ordered that all combined International Security Assistance Force and Afghan operations below the battalion level must be approved at the regional command level following attacks by Afghan soldiers and police that have killed 51 members of the coalition this year.

At a Pentagon news conference today, Little told reporters he did not know how long such operations would be scaled back, but that some patrols below the battalion level do continue. “This is a temporary measure,” he said, “and let me be clear as well that operations with our Afghan partners continue.”

Last week, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, described the pullback as precautionary and partly in response to the violent anti-American demonstrations that broke out across the Islamic world after an American-made video surfaced on the Internet defaming the Prophet Muhammad. “The protection of our personnel is paramount, and we will continue to make adjustments as required over time to ensure their security,” Little said.

The spokesman said it would be up to the command in Afghanistan to determine how long partnered operations are curtailed, and that Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta strongly supports Allen’s decision. He called coalition operations “successful” and stressed that the U.S. goal in Afghanistan remains the same.

“We see Afghans more and more in the lead for their own operations and for their own governance. That is the goal here, that is what we’re training toward,” he said.

“At the end of the day,” he added, “that is how success is going to be defined: whether Afghans can provide for their own security and govern themselves.”

Panetta Announces Completion of Afghanistan Surge Drawdown

By Karen Parrish

American Forces Press Service

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Sept. 21, 2012 – The drawdown of U.S. surge forces in Afghanistan is complete as scheduled, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta announced here today during a news conference with New Zealand Defense Minister Dr. Jonathan Coleman.

Panetta said the return of 33,000 troops President Barack Obama committed to the war in Afghanistan in 2009 is “an important milestone.”

“As we reflect on this moment, it is an opportunity to recognize that the surge accomplished its objectives of reversing Taliban momentum on the battlefield and dramatically increased the size and capability of the Afghan national security forces,” he said.

The surge of forces allowed the United States and its coalition partners in NATO’s International Security Assistance Force to begin transitioning to Afghan security lead, he said, noting that Afghan forces soon will be responsible for leading their country’s defense in areas of every province, and for more than 75 percent of the Afghan population.

“At the same time, we have struck enormous blows against al-Qaida's leadership, consistent with our core goal of disrupting, dismantling and defeating al-Qaida and denying it a safe haven,” the secretary said.

The 68,000 U.S. service members who remain in Afghanistan combine with other nation’s forces to make ISAF around 100,000 troops strong, Panetta said. Those forces will keep working to reduce the level of violence in Afghanistan, ensure the Taliban do not regain any of their previously held areas, and strengthen the Afghan army, he added.

Panetta said Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen, commander of U.S. and ISAF forces in Afghanistan, is confident he can accomplish his campaign with the current force level.

“I have always had tremendous confidence in General Allen’s ability to say to me, ‘This is what I need in order to accomplish the mission,’” the secretary said. “Right now, he is saying the force he has in place is sufficient to accomplish that mission.”

Panetta is in New Zealand for the final stop on his third Asian tour, which also included visits to Japan and China.

Pentagon Deploys Security Team to Libya

By Claudette Roulo

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Sept. 13, 2012 – Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta has authorized deployment of a Marine Corps fleet antiterrorism security team to Libya to protect U.S. citizens there and to secure the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said here today.

During a Pentagon news conference, Little said Panetta strongly condemns the recent attacks on U.S. diplomatic facilities in the Middle East.

“The secretary extends his deepest sympathies to the families of the victims and to the entire State Department family,” Little said. “The department has been working with the White House and State Department to provide resources to support the security of U.S. personnel and facilities in Libya.”

Little said the Defense Department supported the evacuation of American personnel and casualties out of Libya and is supporting the repatriation of the remains of the four State Department personnel, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, who were killed in the attack late Tuesday on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi.

Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey also have worked over the past 48 hours with combatant commanders throughout the region to conduct reviews of their force postures, he said. They also are working “to ensure that we have the flexibility to respond to requests for assistance or orders as directed by the president of the United States,” he added.

Little said the focus of the Defense Department is now on supporting whole-of-government efforts to provide security to American personnel in Libya and elsewhere, working closely with the State Department, “and then supporting any efforts that we may be called upon to assist in the effort to, as the president said, ‘deliver justice.’”

“The FBI and Department of Justice have opened an investigation into this tragic event,” Little said. “Obviously, we will cooperate fully if called upon to support their investigation.

“Rest assured that this department is going to work very closely with our interagency partners to help investigate [and], if we're called upon, to assist,” he continued. “And we will play our part in getting to the root of what happened.”

Panetta Strongly Condemns Benghazi Attack

By Cheryl Pellerin

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta condemned yesterday’s attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi in the “strongest possible terms,” a senior government official said today.

“The secretary also extends his deepest sympathies to the families of the victims and to the entire State Department family,” the official said.

Panetta joined President Barack Obama and Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton in condemning the attacks that killed U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens, Foreign Service information management officer Sean Smith and two others whose names are being withheld until State Department officials notify their families. Three other Americans were wounded in the attack.

“The Department of Defense is ready to respond with additional military measures as directed by the president,” the official added.

Army Gen. Carter F. Ham, commander of the U.S. Africa Command based in Stuttgart, Germany, briefed Panetta last night on the situation in Benghazi, the official said. The secretary has since received regular updates.

“DOD is working closely with the White House and the State Department to provide all necessary resources to support the security of U.S. personnel in Libya,” the official said.

“This support includes a Marine Corps fleet antiterrorism security team based out of Europe,” he said, adding that the team’s mission is to secure the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli and protect U.S. citizens.

DOD is also providing support to evacuate American personnel and casualties out of Libya, the official added.

“Those individuals and the remains of our fallen colleagues will arrive, if they haven’t already done so, at Ramstein [Air Base] and Landstuhl [Regional Medical Center] in Germany,” the official said.

This morning, the official said, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, placed a call to Pastor Terry Jones about a film by a U.S. producer that is insulting to the Prophet Mohammed.

Jones, pastor of the fundamentalist Christian Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla., is known for his 2010 plan to burn Qur'ans, the scripture of the Islamic religion, on the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. According to news reports, he also supports the recent film.

The film also was reported to have caused protests by angry crowds yesterday at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.

“I can confirm that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Martin Dempsey, spoke by phone this morning with Pastor Jones,” the official said.

“This was a brief call in which Gen. Dempsey expressed his concerns over the nature of the film, the tensions it could inflame and the violence it could cause, and he asked Mr. Jones to consider withdrawing his support for the film,” he said.

Jones did listen to the chairman’s concerns but was noncommittal, the official said.