Top US military officer arrives in Afghanistan for talks about winding down war

America's top military officer says his weekend visit to Afghanistan will give him a chance to assess the type and level of additional training that U.S. troops could provide to Afghan defense forces after 2014.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, says that assessment will inform U.S. decisions about how many American troops should remain after the U.S. and NATO combat role ends in December 2014.

Dempsey discussed the goals of the visit before flying overnight to Afghanistan. He arrived at Bagram Air Field early Saturday for meetings with U.S. and allied commanders as well as Afghan officials.

Dempsey said Friday in Stuttgart, Germany, that he would like to see how Afghan forces perform this summer before determining the size of a residual U.S. force.