Biden Retreats On Afghanistan Drawdown (VIDEO)

WATCH: Biden Retreats On Afghanistan Drawdown

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Vice President Joe Biden is taking a more cautious approach when it comes to next summer's planned military U.S. troop drawdown in Afghanistan.

He once predicted the drawdown next July would mean "a lot of people moving out."

But he tells ABC's "This Week" that the number of U.S. troops leaving Afghanistan "could be as few as a couple of thousand troops."

President Barack Obama ordered 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan last December, bringing the U.S. total to about 100,000.

Biden says it's too early to judge whether the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan will succeed, but he says there is progress.

A record 103 NATO troops were killed in June, the deadliest month of the nearly 9-year-old war for international forces.

WATCH BIDEN DISCUSS AFGHANISTAN ON "THIS WEEK":

Uncertainty from the administration may play a role in the public's perception of the war. As Robert Greenwald blogs for HuffPost:

According to Newsweek's latest poll, 53 percent of those surveyed disapprove of the way President Obama is handling the Afghanistan War, and only 37 percent approve.

Bloomberg's latest poll found that:

  • 60 percent want to "stick to the plan to start withdrawal of forces in July of next year, even if the country is still as unstable as it is today." Only 37 percent are "open to keeping the current number of forces in Afghanistan -- or even adding more -- if the country is still unstable in July of next year."
  • A whopping 58 percent of those surveyed think the war is a lost cause, compared to 36 percent who think that winning is even a possibility.

And finally, Pew Research/National Journal Congressional Connection's poll on July 8-11 found that a whopping 42 percent of people surveyed want to remove troops ASAP, up ten points since February.

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot