Panetta didn’t order the weapons taken...it was the new general of US troops in Afghanistan. It’s very likely to turn into some US policy that if Afghan dignitaries show up on any base...you have to meet them without any weapons in your possession. I have doubts that any junior enlisted guys will agree to this order...and it’ll be just the big-wig officers who attend such meetings in the future.
Lets see, the Afgans don’t trust us, our generals don’t trust us and the American people no longer trust their own government. This should work out well.
The story I read from the NYTimes made it sound like Panetta ordered the General to have them disarmed. He wanted them to all look the same or some such nonsense.