US Defense Secretary Roberts Gates, left, talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai during their meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan on Saturday June 4. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates appealed for patience with an unpopular war and said Saturday it's too early to change strategies in Afghanistan or make more than modest U.S. troop withdrawals this summer. (AP Photo/S. Sabawoon, Pool)
WASHINGTON— President Barack Obama has finished a monthly Afghanistan war review as he nears a decision on how many U.S. troops to withdraw in July.
Obama has promised to begin a significant withdrawal of forces next month, but no decision on the scope or pace of the withdrawal was in the offing Monday. Obama met with his national security team for a regular update about the status of the effort in the Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Obama is under pressure on Afghanistan as American public support for the war remains low, congressional pressure for a faster exit mounts and defense officials urge him not to pull troops home too fast. Obama pledged to begin a July 2011 withdrawal when he ordered in 30,000 more troops in December 2009.