WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama ordered 33,000 additional troops to Afghanistan in late 2009, and his defense secretary Thursday seemed to endorse commanders' desire to keep them there as long as possible next year.
But his spokesman said that was not the intent.
Pentagon chief Leon Panetta said the initial 10,000 troops will leave by the end of this year as planned. And he told the House Armed Services Committee that the remaining 23,000 will depart by the "end of the fighting season" next year.
That season easily can extend through October.
Obama's initial schedule had the 23,000 leaving by the end of next summer.
Pentagon Press secretary George Little said there is absolutely no difference between Panetta and the administration.
It's simply wrong to suggest that the Secretary's testimony was somehow at odds with administration policy on Afghanistan," Little said.
He disagreed with the definition of fighting season, adding, "the Secretary said `fighting season,' not summer or fall."
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