Massoud Hossaini / AFP - Getty Images
Afghan Interior Minister Besmullah Mahammadi, center right, walks with US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, center left, in Kabul on Wednesday.
By NBC News, msnbc.com staff and news services
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Updated at 3:23 p.m. ET: -- A U.S soldier suspected of shooting to death 16 Afghan civilians has been flown out of Afghanistan, senior Pentagon officials told NBC News on Wednesday.
The 38-year old staff sergeant was transferred "based on a legal recommendation" because the "U.S. military does not have the proper facilities to detain an American service member for any extended length of time,"?an official said.
The official could not say whether the suspect would be returned to Afghanistan to face any legal proceedings, NBC News reported.
The suspect, whose identity has not been released,?appeared before a pre-trial confinement hearing and was ordered held without charges.? Within the next?seven days, he must be granted another pre-trial confinement hearing to determine whether he should remain in custody.? Technically, the process could go on for months before official charges are filed.
U.S. military officials tell NBC News that they expect charges to be filed by at least the end of next week.?The officials say the military is considering filing capital murder charges, which could result in the death penalty.
Earlier Wednesday, an Afghan man drove a stolen pickup onto a runway at Camp Bastion, the main British base in southern Afghanistan, before crashing into a ditch -- right around the time that U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's plane was touching down, U.S. defense officials said.
The crash was in the vicinity of where Panetta's plane was supposed to park. The secretary's aircraft had to taxi to a different location. No one in Panetta?s party was hurt, said Navy Capt. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman.
Panetta arrived in Afghanistan for an unannounced?two-day visit with Afghan officials and U.S. troops -- the first by a senior member of the Obama administration since the shooting death 16 Afghan civilians, mostly children and women.
At Camp Bastion, the man set himself on fire after exiting the stolen vehicle and was being treated for "significant burns" at the coalition hospital at the base, a senior U.S. officials told NBC News. One coalition service member who was hit by the truck was injured, officials said.
There were no weapons or explosives in the truck.
Kirby said officials are trying to determine whether the man in custody was trying to attack Panetta and the welcoming delegation meeting his plane. ?We are investigating this,? he said, according to The Washington Post.??We don?t know what the motivations of the driver were.?
ISAF, the NATO-led security mission in Afghanistan,?released this statement:
Jangir / AFP - Getty Images
More than ten years after the beginning of the war, Afghanistan faces external pressure to reform as well as ongoing internal conflicts.
ISAF is aware of a stolen vehicle incident today at Camp Bastion, which resulted in the injury of one coalition service member. The alleged perpetrator was apprehended by base security personnel. We are currently investigating to determine more facts.
This incident took place this afternoon around the same time U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta was arriving in Afghanistan. At no point was the Secretary or anyone on the aircraft in any danger from this incident.
Panetta on Wednesday told Afghan officials and U.S. troops that recent violence ? such as the shooting massacre last weekend ? will not deter the America from carrying out its mission in Afghanistan.
A surveillance video reportedly taken from a blimp showed the soldier walking up to his base after the shootings covered in a traditional Afghan shawl. The soldier removed the shawl and put his weapon on the ground, then raised his arms in surrender, Afghan officials who viewed the footage told Reuters and The Associated Press.
"We'll be challenged by our enemy. We'll be challenged by ourselves. We'll be challenged by the hell of war itself. But none of that, none of that, must ever deter us from the mission that we must achieve," Panetta told soldiers at Camp Leatherneck, the main U.S. Marine base in the volatile area.
"As tragic as these acts of violence have been, they do not define the relationship between the coalition and Afghan forces and the Afghan people," he said.
Officials: US soldier in Afghanistan shooting spree said 'I did it'
George Little, a Pentagon press secretary?traveling with?Panetta, said Panetta also met with Afghan government officials in Kabul. He told?the defense minister that he has been impressed that Afghan security forces have been able to maintain control in the aftermath of the incidents of recent weeks.
Villagers who witnessed the methodical killing are asking for an execution and the U.S. is reportedly considering charges that would carry the death penalty for the soldier who allegedly killed 16 Afghan civilians. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
In Washington, President Barack Obama said Britain and their NATO allies are committed to shifting to a support role in Afghanistan in 2013.
Speaking alongside British Prime Minister David Cameron at joint a news conference in the White House, Obama said that next phase in the transition will be an important step in turning security control over to the Afghans by the end of 2014.
Obama, Cameron stand in united front
Obama said NATO forces are making "undeniable" progress in Afghanistan. But he said recent "tragic events" are a reminder that the mission is still difficult.
Panetta's visit to Afghanistan was planned months ago, long before the weekend slaughter that claimed the lives of 16 villagers. But the trip propels Panetta into the center of escalating anti-American anger and sets the stage for some difficult discussions with Afghan leaders.
Just days after an Army staff sergeant allegedly killed 16 Afghan civilians in a shooting rampage, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta visited Afghanistan to meet with government officials and U.S. troops. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
Panetta and other U.S. officials say the shooting spree should not derail the U.S. and NATO strategy of a gradual withdrawal of troops by the end of 2014. But it has further soured relations with war-weary Afghans, jeopardizing the U.S. strategy of working closely with Afghan forces so they can take over their country's security.
NYT: An Afghan elder comes home to find a massacre
There were clear concerns about security in the large tent at Camp Leatherneck where Panetta was slated to talk to troops.
Before Panetta came into the hall, Sgt. Maj. Brandon Hall told the more than 200 Marines in the room to take their weapons outside and leave them there. Afghan troops had already been told not to bring their guns in.
A U.S. defense official said the?order was not a reaction to an immediate threat. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the base commander made the decision that no one would be allowed to bring in weapons.
Marines asked to disarm before Panetta speech
Panetta's two-day visit was to include meetings with President Hamid Karzai, Afghan defense officials and provincial leaders, as well as routine discussions with his commanders on the ground. The sessions were likely to touch on America's planned withdrawal of about 22,000 troops by fall, including as many as 10,000 Marines from Helmand Province.
NBC News' Jim Miklaszewski and Courtney Kube, The Associated Press, Reuters and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.
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