Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/06/201169142319648253.html

A growing chorus of Democrats and Republicans are pushing to have 15,000 soliders withdrawn soon, rather than 3,000. Nearly 100,000 American troops are in Afghanistan and with only three weeks left before US military forces are scheduled to begin withdrawing from Afghanistan, the debate over the size and pace of that withdrawal has become increasingly intense. On one hand, the Pentagon, backed by prominent neo-conservatives and other hawks, insists that the 18-month-old "surge" of 30,000 US troops has turned the strategic tide against the Taliban.