United States Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Sunday he expected Yemen to cooperate with more counter-terrorism operations, regardless of the political fate of the country’s embattled president.

United States Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Sunday he expected Yemen to cooperate with more counter-terrorism operations, like the one that killed al-Qaeda leader Anwar Awlaki, regardless of the political fate of the country's embattled president.

"There are a lot of people in the leadership there concerned about Awlaqi, concerned about terrorism," Panetta told reporters on his plane en route to the Zionist entity.
"We have developed over the years a relationship where we worked together, we shared intelligence, and we focused on some common targets there as well.

"And I think that will continue to be the case regardless of what ultimately happens with president (Ali Abdullah) Saleh," said Panetta, who served as CIA director until taking over as Pentagon chief in July.

Yemen has been since months ago braced for anti-government protests. Demonstrators have been calling for embattled President Saleh to step down. The US administration itself has called on Saleh to peacefully hand over power.

However, the Central Intelligence Agency and the US military long relied on Saleh as a crucial partner in battling Al-Qaeda militants such as the American-born cleric Awlaki, who was killed in an air raid on Friday.

Following Awlaki’s assassination, Yemeni officials were pointing to Awlaki’s death as evidence of Saleh’s effectiveness as a U.S. partner, while opposition leaders said they feared that it would ease international pressure on the president to step aside.