KABUL, Afghanistan, March 8 (UPI) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says America faces an "acid test" this spring and summer on whether gains in the war in Afghanistan are sustainable.
Responding to a reporter's question on whether U.S. progress in Afghanistan would hold up, Gates said, "Well, I have to -- you know, I'm -- I guess I would say -- I would use the phrase I use all the time, which is I'm cautiously optimistic ... A, because of the gains that have been made against tough odds ...
"I'm also cautiously optimistic because the Afghans are getting into the fight, because the numbers are beginning to matter, and in different respects, the police, the army, the local police and so on. So we'll see. But I think this spring and summer in many respects will be an acid test."
Gates held a press availability Tuesday in COP Kowali, Afghanistan after visiting U.S. troops and Afghan officials.
"I think that the announcement that we would begin drawing down (military forces) in July of 2011 had contributed to a sense of urgency on the part of the Afghans in terms of the recruitment of significant numbers of Afghans to serve both in the army and the police ...," he told reporters. He said the Afghans believe "we are going to be around for the longer haul."
Earlier, he said there are unlikely to be any American troop withdrawals in July from the hard-fought south or southwest part of the country, The New York Times reported.
It was the first time Gates acknowledged troop withdrawals would probably not come from the south, saying that although there has been progress in the war effort there, it was "fragile and reversible."
President Obama has ordered withdrawals to begin in July, and Gates is in Afghanistan to participate in discussions with commanders to determine where they will come from and how many there will be.
Gates and the commanders said they expect heavy fighting this spring and summer as the Taliban regroup from their traditional winter hiatus.
On his second day in Afghanistan, Gates traveled to Sangin in Helmand province, and then to a village in the Arghandab district of Kandahar province, where a fledgling program to arm local Afghan police is under way.
