Panetta portrayed the shooting as an isolated event that would not alter plans for a gradual, orderly withdrawal of American combat forces by the end of 2014.

„War is hell. These kinds of events and incidents are going to take place, they‘ve taken place in any war. They‘re terrible events. And this is not the first of those events, and it probably won‘t be the last,“ the U.S. defense secretary told reporters on a flight to Kyrgyzstan.

„But we cannot allow these events to undermine our strategy or the mission that we‘re involved in.“