Afghanistan

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U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, left, goes to shake hands with Army Maj. Gen. Robert Abrams, right, after Abrams introduced Panetta to the troops during a visit to Kandahar Airfield in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, Pool)

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U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta speaks to the troops during a visit to Kandahar Airfield in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, Pool)

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U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta meets with troops at Kabul International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012, before boarding his plane and heading back to Washington. Panetta spent three days in Afghanistan meeting with troops, commanders and Afghani leaders. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, Pool)

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U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta speaks to the troops during a visit to Kandahar Airfield in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, Pool)

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U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta walks out with Afghanistan's Defense Minister Gen. Bismillah Khan Mohammadi following their meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, Pool)

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U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai arrive for their joint news conference at the Presidential Palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, Pool)

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U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, left, listens as Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, right, speaks during their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, Pool)

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U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta poses for a photo with troops at Kabul International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012, before boarding his plane and heading back to Washington. Panetta spent three days in Afghanistan meeting with troops, commanders and Afghani leaders. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, Pool)

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Maullah Daoud, co-owner of a tiny shop in Marjah, in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, says that living under the Taliban, who were routed in a major, bloody U.S.-led invasion in 2001, was better than dealing with the insecurity that exists after 11 years of war. (Associated Press)

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** FILE ** Khalid al-Masri, a German who says CIA agents abducted him and transported him to Afghanistan, attends a meeting of the European Parliament committee investigating claims of U.S. secret prisons and flights in Europe at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, in 2006. (AP Photo/Christian Hartmann)

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Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta (center) talks with Army Maj. Gen. Robert Abrams (right) and Command Sgt. Maj. Edd Watson during a visit to Kandahar Airfield in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, Pool)

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An displaced Afghan child stands at a refugee camp on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012. More than 2 million Afghans are at risk from cold, disease and malnutrition this winter as an international appeal for funds to help one of the world's poorest countries has fallen drastically short of its goal, the United Nations and several humanitarian agencies warned on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

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**FILE** Afghan men gather in a tea house in the center of Lashkar Gah, Helmand province in Afghanistan on Oct. 23, 2012. In southern Helmand province, one of Afghanistan’s deadliest battlefields, angry residents say 11 years of war has brought them widespread insecurity. Development that was promised hasn’t materialized and the Taliban’s rule is often said to be preferred. (Associated Press)