Strategic defeat of Al-Qaeda 'within reach': Panetta

The ‘strategic defeat’ of Al-Qaeda is ‘within reach’, Leon Panetta said Saturday, as he arrived on a surprise first visit to Afghanistan in his new role as United States defense secretary.

Former CIA chief Panetta, who took office on July 01 to replace Robert Gates, arrived in Kabul for a trip to include talks with President Hamid Karzai over the transition of some NATO-held areas to Afghan control starting mid-July.

US President Barack Obama has announced that 10,000 US forces will leave Afghanistan this year and another 23,000 by the end of September in 2012, ahead of a full withdrawal of foreign forces in 2014.

Before his arrival, Panetta told travelling media that since the May night raid by US forces in Pakistan that killed Osama Bin Laden, 10-20 key Al-Qaeda targets had been identified between Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and north Africa.

"If we can go after them, I think we really can strategically defeat Al-Qaeda," said Panetta, who leads the Pentagon after two years as head of the CIA. "Obviously we made an important start with that with getting rid of bin Laden. I was convinced in my prior capacity and I'm convinced in this capacity that we're within reach of strategically defeating Al-Qaeda."

"Now is the moment, following what happened with bin Laden, to put maximum pressure on them because I do believe that if we continue this effort that we can really cripple Al-Qaeda," he said.

US-led coalition forces have been fighting a Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan since their invasion in late 2001 in the wake of the September 11 attacks orchestrated by bin Laden.

Panetta said that the near 10-year war in Afghanistan that has led to the deaths of 1,658 US troops so far and costs the US about $10 billion every month had been successful in defeating part of the militant network.

"We've been able to disrupt, dismantle Al-Qaeda. We've been able to in many ways return Afghanistan to itself instead of having the Taliban run that country," he said.

Critics of the war say it has no clear aims, especially since the death of bin Laden, and they have called for a speedier exit from the long conflict. Seven areas of the country are due to be transferred to overall Afghan control from mid-July, despite widespread skepticism over the ability of national forces to handle security as international forces leave.

On arriving in Afghanistan, Panetta was expected to meet Karzai and defence and interior ministers to discuss "our common objectives on transition, the drawdown, the build up of the ANSF (Afghan forces)", said a senior US official.

Panetta acknowledged that there was "a lot more work to do in terms of being able to transition the responsibility to them". "The key to success in Afghanistan is the ability to successfully transition to the Afghans," he told reporters. "That means they have to develop a capable military, a capable police force, capable local militias that are going to be able to maintain stability. That's the key and that's the area we're gonna focus on."

US officers say the withdrawal of American forces will begin slowly this summer, with about 800 soldiers in two army units due to depart this month.