U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said that strategic defeat of Al-Qaeda is within reach. Mr. Panetta arrived in Kabul yesterday on an unscheduled visit to Afghanistan. Talking to reporters he said Osama bin Laden is dead and some key leaders of Al-Quaeda have also been identified and its time to consolidate the gains of the war against terror. Mr. Panetta had talks with President Hamid Karzai in Kabul yesterday. This is Mr. Panetta’s first visit to Afghanistan after he took office as U.S Defense Secretary on the 1st of this month. On the second day of his visit to he is likely to meet with Afghan security officials and US troops. American President Barack Obama recently announced withdrawal of 33,000 US troops from Afghanistan by September 2012 without losing recent gains against the Taliban.