KABUL, Afghanistan - U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates says the United States has no interest is setting up permanent military bases in Afghanistan.
The Pentagon chief is in Afghanistan for talks with President Hamid Karzai and a look at battlefields where his commanders say the U.S. and NATO are gaining the edge against the Taliban. He told reporters Monday that while the U.S. is open to some long-term military presence in the strategically important country, he is stressing the plan to halt combat operations by the end of 2014.
Karzai is worried about what happens then, and wants more durable signs of U.S. support.
Gates also apologized for the accidental deaths of Afghan children in an air strike last week, and Karzai accepted the apology.
