Clinton, Gates defend Obama's new Afghan decision

US President Barack Obama and his top aides have faced sharp Republican criticism since he announced his new Afghan war strategy.

The plan will send another 30 thousand troops to Afghanistan, but would begin bringing them home just after 18 months of deployment.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, rejected the criticism and defended the president's decision in an interview on NBC news.

Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, said, "Because we're not talking about an exit strategy or a drop-dead deadline, what we're talking about is an assessment that, in January 2011, we can begin a transition, a transition to hand off responsibility to the Afghan forces. That is what eventually happened in Iraq Your know. We are going to be out of Iraq. We have a firm deadline because the Iraqis believe that they can assume and will assume responsibility for their own future. We want the Afghans to feel the same sense of urgency."

Robert Gates, US Defense Secretary, said, "In July 2011, our generals are confident that they will know whether our strategy is working. And the plan is to begin transferring areas of responsibility for security over to the Afghan security forces with us remaining in a tactical and then strategic over-watch position, sort of a cavalry over the hill, but we will begin to thin our forces and begin to bring them home, but the pace of that -- of bringing them home and where we will bring them home from -- will depend on the circumstances on the ground."