"Hopefully by the mid-to-latter part of 2013," Panetta said, "we'll be able to make a transition from a combat role to a training, advice, and assist role."

This announcement came shortly after the Taliban declared its plans to open a political office in Qatar, allowing for direct peace negotiations.

At the moment, the U.S. still has 90,000 troops stationed in Afghanistan, with 22,000 scheduled to return home later this year.

Gathered here are images of the people and places involved in this conflict over the past month, as part of an ongoing monthly series on Afghanistan.

 

Men of 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, during an operation near the end of their third deployment in three years in Afghanistan. They were securing route 611, which runs Kajaki Sofla, an area that had long been a safe haven for insurgent sub-commanders and for arms and drug trafficking. (Cpl. James Clark/USMC)

 

The reflection of an Afghan widow in a bowl of water as she makes bread at her bakery in the old section of Kabul on a cold winter day, on January 17, 2012. With a population of some 29 million, 23 percent of the total Afghan population live in urban areas. Afghanistan is the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world. (Qais Usyan/AFP/Getty Images)

 

An Afghan boy enjoys the snowfall in Kandahar on January 24, 2012. Heavy snowfall led to dozens being injured or trapped in their homes under up to three meters of snow in remote Badakhshan province, where main roads have been cut, making it difficult for rescue workers to reach affected villages. (Jangir/AFP/Getty Images)

 

Two US gunners sit aboard a US helicopter Chinook at the Bagram Airport, on January 21, 2012. (Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images)

 

A V-22B Osprey transport aircraft assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 162 soars into the air after conducting an extract mission in support of 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, during Operation Tageer Shamal (Shifting Winds), on January 8, 2012. (Cpl. Reece Lodder/USMC)

 

A vehicle drives over a narrow wooden bridge in the Afghan province of Daykundi on January 3, 2012. Daykundi is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. Daykundi's capital is Nili, located about 310 kilometers from Kabul. (Aref Yaqubi/AFP/Getty Images)

 

Newly graduated Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers stand in line during their graduation ceremony at the Afghan National Army training center in Kabul, on January 26, 2012. (Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images)

 

An Afghan woman practices inside a boxing club in Kabul, on December 28, 2011. Female boxing is still relatively unusual in most countries, but especially in Afghanistan, where many girls and women still face a struggle to secure an education or work, and activists say violence and abuse at home is common. Many in this conservative society still consider fighting taboo for women, and the country's first team of female boxers deal with serious threats. (Rueters/Ahmad Masood)

 

A picture taken on January 21, 2012, shows the Hindu Kush mountains, an 800 km wide mountain range that stretches between central Afghanistan and northern Pakistan. (Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images)

 

Pallets of supplies land in the snow-covered ground during an air drop in Shah Joy district, Zabul province, on January 25, 2012. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jon Rasmussen/US Navy)

 

Mohammad Saber Yaqoti Hussaini Khedri, the calligrapher of the world's biggest copy of the holy Quran turns a page at a ceremony in Kabul, Afghanistan, on January 12, 2012. Hussaini Khedri claims to have completed the writing of the world's biggest copy of Islam's holy Quran in 5 years along with his nine students with the financial support of Sayed Mansoor Nadri, a well-known figure in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

 

A man rides a horse at a playground on a hill as sun sets in Kabul, on January 5, 2012. (Reuters/Ahmad Masood)

 

Spc. Ronald H. Wildrick, Jr.'s brother Joe Osbourn (left), sister Christie Berkey (center) and mother Sandra McDonald listen as Taps is played during a burial service at Arlington National Cemetery, on January 13, 2012. US Army Spc. Ronald H. Wildrick, Jr. was killed by an improvised explosive device in December while serving in the Kunar province of Afghanistan. (Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)

 

An Afghan man clears the snow around a camp of displaced people from Helmand, in Kabul, on January 22, 2012. (Qais Usyan/AFP/Getty Images)

 

U.S. airmen and soldiers assigned to the 76th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron (ERS) provide critical care to a patient onboard an HC-130 Hercules aircraft during a medical evacuation at Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, on January 28, 2012. (Reuters/USAF/Senior Airman Tyler Price)