US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said Wednesday that the United States is aiming for an end to its combat role in Afghanistan by the second half of 2013, dpa reported.
The United States' and NATO's goal has been to withdraw all combat troops by the end of 2014 from Afghanistan, where the internationally backed government and a NATO-led coalition have been fighting Taliban insurgents.
Panetta made the comments to reporters while flying to Brussels for a meeting of NATO defence ministers.
"Our goal is to complete all of that transition in 2013," the Washington Post quoted him as saying. "Hopefully by mid to the latter part of 2013 we'll be able to make a transition from a combat role."
An unnamed US official cited by the newspaper said later that "nothing is final" in decisions about the pace of withdrawal until NATO leaders meet at a summit in May in Chicago.
Panetta said that an early transition out of a combat role did not necessarily mean that all combat troops would leave Afghanistan before the end of 2014. Training and assistance and even combat actions could still take place, he said.
"It's still a pretty robust role that we'll be engaged in," Panetta said. "That doesn't mean that we're not going to be combat-ready."