Washington: US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta believes the US is headed in the right direction in Afghanistan where 2011 was a "pivotal" year that witnessed weakening of the Taliban.
Panetta told US soldiers at a town hall meeting at Fort Bliss in Texas that for the first time in five years the level of violence was down in Afghanistan and this shows the US and Afghanistan had made progress in improving security.
"We are headed in the right direction. And we've got to stick to it. And if we do that we too can give the Afghans the opportunity to be able to take control of their country and provide the control and security that they need to provide to their people," Panetta said.
He said Afghan Army units became operational and got involved in the battlefiled last year and the transition to Afghan control had finally begun.
"In Afghanistan, 2011 was a pivotal year. We've seen the weakening of the Taliban. Taliban was not able throughout 2011 to conduct an organised attack to regain territory that they lost.
For the first time in five years the level of violence was down," he said.
"We just completed under General Allen's tremendousleadership the second tranche really of areas that we are transitioning. And when we complete that over 50 per cent of the population in Afghanistan will be under Afghan control and security," he told his soldiers.
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