Panetta: surge of US forces in Afghanistan accomplished its objectives

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Thursday that the surges of U.S. forces in Afghanistan accomplished its objectives. "We completed the drawdown of 33,000 surge forces that the president ordered to Afghanistan in December of 2009...it is clear that the surge allowed us to turn a very important corner in 2011. It 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", said Panetta in a press briefing. "To fully understand the impact of the surge, I think it is a good thing to remind ourselves where things stood in mid-2009. At that time the momentum was clearly on the side of the Taliban. The insurgency was steadily retaking key parts of Afghanistan", she added. Panetta noted that any time U.S. forces "would clear an area and then leave, it was immediately taken back by the Taliban. There were no areas that were transitioned, mainly because the Afghan national security forces were not capable to provide security on their own or counter the Taliban". "The result was that Afghanistan faced the real prospect that the Taliban would take over large parts of the country, which ultimately would have strengthened al-Qaida's hand and provided it again with a safe haven from which to plan attacks on our homeland", he added. Panetta affirmed that the Afghan national security forces "have become more capable and expanded dramatically, growing from roughly 150,000 in November 2008 to more than 330,000 today, with the goal of going to 352,000 very soon". "Most notably, we have begun the transition to Afghan security and responsibility, and we have moved decisively toward an Afghanistan that can secure and govern itself. And that is the fundamental mission that we have sought to accomplish", he added. Panetta remarked that "there has also been a very troubling rise in insider attacks. And the purpose of those insider attacks has been to target the very trust that we need between ISAF and Afghan forces. That trust is critical to completing this transition". "We must and we will take whatever steps are necessary to protect our forces, but I also want to underscore that we remain fully committed to our strategy of transition to Afghan security control", he added. Panetta concluded by affirming that "this is a war. And it is a war that will continue to demand perseverance on the part of the American people, on the part of the Afghan people, and on the part of the international community". On a recent attack on the US embassy in Libya, he said al-Qaeda continues to "pursue its efforts" around the world and noted that the attack on the U.S. embassy in Libya is a "terrorist attack". "With regards to al-Qaeda and its efforts in that area, I think it is fair to say that al-Qaeda continues to try to pursue its efforts in that part of the world. We have been going after them in Yemen; we have been going after them in Somalia; we've been going after them in North Africa", said Panetta in a press briefing. "And because they continue to be a threat in those areas and they continue to operate in different ways as well in other parts of Africa. As to specifically whether they were or were not involved with regards to the attack in Benghazi, I think that remains for the investigation to determine", he added. Panetta noted that "the reason I think it pretty clearly was a terrorist attack is because a group of terrorists obviously conducted that attack on the consulate and against our individuals. What terrorists were involved I think still remains to be determined by the investigation. But it clearly was a group of terrorists who conducted that attack against that facility". "As a country, we have ourselves been the target of a terrorist attack. And I think we have made clear that as a result of that, we are going to continue to go after those that would attack our individuals. And I think that remains the case here as well. We are not going to let people who deliberately attack and kill our people get away with it", he concluded.