Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


                 New US Defense Secretary Visiting Afghanistan

   by VOA News

   U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel arrived in Afghanistan Friday on his
   first foreign trip since being confirmed as Pentagon chief by the U.S.
   Senate last week.
   Speaking to reporters as he flew to the Afghan capital Kabul,  Hagel
   expressed optimism about the transfer of security responsibility to
   Afghan forces prior to the departure of U.S.-led coalition forces in
   2014.
   That transition, he said, is happening in a way that gives the Afghan
   people "a very hopeful future."
   Last month, Hagel's predecessor, then U.S. Defense Secretary Leon
   Panetta, said that NATO allies were considering leaving between 8,000
   and 12,000 international troops in Afghanistan after 2014. There are
   currently around 100,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan, including 66,000
   U.S. troops.
   Hagel said Friday that while in Afghanistan he would meet with U.S.
   commanders and Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
   He said among the issues he would discuss with the Afghan president
   would be Karzai's order last month that all U.S. special forces leave
   Afghanistan's eastern Wardak province, in response to allegations that
   those forces or their Afghan allies may have committed rights abuses
   against civilians.
   Meanwhile, in the latest apparent "insider" attack on coalition
   personnel, a NATO civilian contractor was killed Friday at a U.S. base
   in eastern Afghanistan by three men wearing Afghan military uniforms.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/new-us-defense-secretary-visiting-afg
   hanistan/1617958.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/new-us-defense-secretary-visiting-afghanistan/1617958.html