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International News Title: Robert Gates Dismisses Gen Petraeus Suggestion That Withdrawal From Afghanistan Can Be Postponed Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary, has put himself at odds with the country's top commander in Afghanistan by ruling out any delay in the start of troop withdrawals next year. Published: 2:57PM BST 16 Aug 2010 Mr Gates said that American troops would start to pull out on schedule in July 2011 as he confirmed that he would leave office next year, once the drawdown was on track. The remarks came just a day after Gen David Petraeus had said he reserved the right to advise a delay if the fighting was not going well. "I think that by next year I'll be in a position where - you know, we're going to know whether the strategy is working in Afghanistan," Mr Gates told Foreign Policy magazine. "We'll have completed the surge. We'll have done the assessment in December. And it seems like somewhere there in 2011 is a logical opportunity to hand off. "I just think this is not the kind of job you want to fill in the spring of a presidential election." Mr Gates separately said there was "no question" troops would begin to withdraw next summer as pledged by Barack Obama when he ordered his surge of 30,000 reinforcements to the war. The apparent discord came as the death toll for international troops in the nine-year-long conflict passed the 2,000 mark. As casualties mount, Mr Obama is struggling to navigate between growing disillusion over the war among his Democrat supporters and reports from his commanders that progress against the Taliban in the field is slower than hoped. Mr Gates said: "There is no question in anybody's mind that we are going to begin drawing down troops in July of 2011." When Gen Petraeus was asked on Sunday whether he could foresee counselling for a delay in withdrawal, he said: "Certainly, yeah", adding a pull out depended on the conditions on the ground. "The president and I sat down in the Oval Office and he expressed very clearly that what he wants from me is my best professional military advice," he added. Mr Obama first gave the deadline when ordering 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan for his surge strategy last December. The pledge was designed to reassure a sceptical electorate, but has been criticised for giving encouragement to the Taliban. It is also increasingly at odds with slow progress in southern Afghanistan. The Marjah offensive into central Helmand which was to mark the beginning of the surge has struggled to break the grip of Taliban intimidation among the residents. American marines are still locked in regular firefights. A push into Kandahar, Afghanistan's southern capital, had been originally due to end by the start of Ramadan, which began last week. It now seems set to stretch into the late autumn. Progress is unlikely to be visible until early next year commander warn. Opinion polls show American support for the war, and Mr Obama's handling of it, are at an all-time low. The icasualties.org website, which keeps a well respected tally of Nato deaths in Afghanistan, said the death toll had reached 2,002 at the weekend. The most recent casualty was an Australian special forces soldier shot dead by insurgents. Among the dead, are 1,226 Americans, 331 from Britain and 445 from other nations. The toll has risen year on year as more troops have been sent to battle the resurgent Taliban-led rebellion against Hamid Karzai's government. The tally shows 434 foreign troops have been killed in 2010 so far, compared with 521 in 2009. Saleh Registani, an Afghan member of parliament from Panjshir province, said a complete withdrawal of troops would be disastrous. He said: "If they pulled out at 11 o'clock, the Taliban would be in power at 12 o'clock
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