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US Senate confirms Panetta to head Pentagon

WASHINGTON : The US Senate Tuesday unanimously confirmed CIA chief Leon Panetta's nomination to be defense secretary, r

Published June 21, 2011 Updated June 21, 2011 09:37pm

1 min

By Imad Uddin

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All 100 members of the Senate approved the nomination of Panetta, who turns 73 next week, hailing his service as the head of the Central Intelligence Agency during which the United States tracked down and killed Osama bin Laden.

In a break with Gates, Panetta has said he supported the withdrawal of a significant number of troops from Afghanistan next month.

Obama is due to announce Wednesday his plans to withdraw troops from Afghanistan as the military works to put Afghans in charge of their own security by 2014 and wrap up what is now an almost decade-long war.

The president has said the withdrawal of troops will begin in July, but that the timetable would be determined by conditions on the ground.

Panetta is on track to replace Gates July 1 and be succeeded as CIA chief by General David Petraeus, now the US commander in Afghanistan.

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