“On Saturday [July 9, 2011], after meeting in Kabul with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the Pentagon chief [Leon Panetta] told reporters–twice–that 70,000 U.S. troops would remain in Afghanistan through the end of 2014.”
– Craig Whitlock, “Panetta: U.S. ‘Within Reach’ of Defeating al-Qaeda,” The Washington Post, July 11, 2011