Panetta's Afghan exit plan stirs confusion

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration scrambled yesterday to tamp down the fallout from Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's surprise announcement that the United States would end its combat role in Afghanistan a year earlier than expected, heightening confusion over U.S. strategy and stoking Afghan distrust.

The U.S. decision could weaken the administration's hand as it tries to pressure the Taliban into peace talks by confirming to insurgent leaders that they can hold out until the U.S. combat mission draws to a close in December 2014, current and former U.S. and Afghan officials warned.

Panetta's remarks reflect a White House desire, in part driven by election-year politics, to hasten an end to the decade-old war that has claimed hundreds of American lives and cost billions of dollars.

But the announcement took U.S. lawmakers, some European allies and Afghan officials aback. It was widely assumed that U.S. troops would continue to take a lead role in combat operations until the end of 2014.

"It's confusing," said Mark Jacobson, the former deputy NATO representative to the U.S.-led international force in Afghanistan.

Panetta sent "the wrong message at the wrong time," said Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut Independent, who said he saw "absolutely no military rationale that I am aware of for suddenly accelerating the current timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan."

The announcement surprised some members of Panetta's own staff, who hadn't expected an announcement until a NATO summit that President Barack Obama will host in Chicago in May.

White House spokesman Jay Carney denied there was a policy change, but his remarks hardly clarified the issue.