President Hamid Karzai requested U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan in 2013 instead of 2010 , during a meeting on Thursday.
Leon Panetta is currently visiting the country after the U.S. troops killed 16 Afghan civilians earlier this week .
“We are ready to bear all the responsibility for security at the state level .” Karzai said . Afghan President also stressed the need for bilateral cooperation to accomplish the transition of the security functions from the international forces to Afghan forces in 2013 instead of 2014 .