Defense Secretary Leon Panetta continues a visit to Afghanistan in a bid to contain the fallout over the massacre. On Wednesday, Panetta received a security scare after an Afghan man drove a stolen pickup truck onto the tarmac where Panetta’s plane was about to land, then emerged from the vehicle in flames. The man later died from the burns. A U.S. commander said he believed the incident was unrelated to Panetta’s visit and that the man may have been trying to run the truck into a group of U.S. marines. At a U.S. base in Helmand province, Panetta tried to highlight security gains under the U.S. occupation.

Leon Panetta: “This area was a Taliban stronghold once upon a time, and now a great deal of progress has been made in terms of Afghan security and Afghan governance in this area.”