Obama's Afghan decision has flexibility: defense secretary

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- Both troops number and drawdown date in U.S. President Barack Obama's Afghan decision have certain flexibility, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates suggested Thursday.

Testifying before a Senate committee on Obama's decision to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan and start drawdown of U.S. troops level there in July 2011, Gates told lawmakers that the additional deployments could be increased to 33,000 if frontline commanders want more medics or technicians to detect roadside bombs.

He also said the July 2011 date are definite, yet flexible enough to give American military commanders the discretion they need.

"The pace, the size of the drawdown, is going to be determined in a responsible manner based on the conditions that exist at the time," he said.

"It is not contradictory to set a date certain, yet to condition it on the reality that we confront at that time," Gates added.

Obama delivered a prime-time speech to the nation on Tuesday night, laying out a strategy which calls for sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan and starting pulling out U.S. forces in July2011.

As the public is turning negative toward the Afghan war and his fellow Democrats are increasingly vocal in their opposition to a troop buildup in Afghanistan, the decision is regarded as one of the most critical issues to shape his presidency and will be a tough-sell.