Opposition to Obama’s Afghanistan exit strategy growing

Several senior US officials have said they are opposed to the idea of setting a target date for the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.

In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, the head of the US Central Command of the armed forces, General David Petraeus, disputed the July 2011 date as a swift US retreat from the conflict-torn country.

"This date does not trigger a rush to the exits," he stated.

The comments come days after President Barack Obama ordered the deployment of 33,000 more US troops to Afghanistan and said that US forces would start a partial withdrawal in July 2011.

In addition, US War Secretary Robert Gates said earlier that Obama's plans to start bringing soldiers back from Afghanistan in 18 months might slip and that no deadlines can be set.

"I do not consider this an exit strategy, and I try to avoid using that term. This is a transition that is going to take place, and it is not an arbitrary date," Gates said on ABC's "This Week" program.

Meanwhile, a new poll shows that the majority of the US public disapproves of Obama's handling of the war in Afghanistan, with 40 percent saying that the number of US troops in the country should be decreased.