KABUL (AP) — Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday that President Hamid Karzai has accepted an invitation from President Barack Obama to meet in Washington next month for critical talks on the future of Afghanistan.

Panetta said at a joint news conference with Karzai that the meeting is to be held during the week of Jan. 7.

The two leaders will use the meeting to discuss Afghanistan's future. Karzai said he and Obama will discuss the number of U.S. troops that will remain in Afghanistan after the combat mission ends there in December 2014.