Gates, Petraeus differ on flexibility of Afghan exit

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates insisted Monday that the July 2011 date to start withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan was set in stone, putting him at odds with his top Afghan war commander.

Gates and General David Petraeus were in lock-step on the need for a gradual withdrawal, but a series of interviews exposed discord over the flexibility of the start date given in November by US President Barack Obama.

"There is no question in anybody's mind that we are going to begin drawing down troops in July of 2011," Gates, who confirmed plans to leave office next year, told The Los Angeles Times.

However, Petraeus, asked in a separate interview whether he could reach that juncture and have to recommend a delay to Obama because of the conditions on the ground, replied, "Certainly, yeah."

He told NBC television's "Meet the Press" program Sunday that he would be prepared to negotiate with the Taliban with "blood on their hands."

Obama's mid-2011 deadline to begin a limited withdrawal has been strongly criticized by some who believe it sent out the message that the US is not in the fight for the long-term, boosting the Taliban's resolve to wait it out.

The interviews came hours before independent monitoring website icasualties.org revealed that the total number of foreign troops killed since the start of the Afghan war in 2001 had topped 2,000, including 1,226 US troops, 331 British soldiers and 445 from other nations.

It added that 1,271 civilians were killed in the first half of this year.

Meanwhile, an official said Monday that Afghan police seized nearly 17 tons of ammonium nitrate, a key component in roadside bombs that are one of the main weapons used by insurgents against Afghan and foreign troops.

While the discovery of caches of materials used to make bombs is not unusual, this was the largest find of its kind since the chemical was banned earlier this year.

Icasualties.org estimates that roadside bombs, or improvised explosive devices, have accounted for about 60 percent of fatalities among foreign troops over the past three years.

Agencies