US Makes Progress in Afghanistan

The US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta on Friday said that the Afghanistan is making progress against the Taliban. Addressing US Marines, Panetta said the Congress would be irresponsible if it doesn't act to prevent drastic military budget cuts. A budget agreement reached last August calls for defence cuts of $487 billion over a decade, a reflection of the drawdown of two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the pressure to reduce the nation's deficit. Answering questions from troops and journalists, Panetta also said last year was a turning point for the war in Afghanistan, where the US is winding down its combat role. Afghan forces are doing their job in the country and more than 50 percent of the Afghan population is now living in areas secured by the Afghan government - showing the US strategy of handing over the security to them is working - but ultimately it will be up to Afghans, the secretary said. "We can't let anything, anything undermine that strategy," he said. He said the level of violence in Afghanistan dropped last year for the first time in five years and the Taliban was weakened.