AP Interview: US Afghan withdrawal halfway done

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_AFGHANISTAN_COMMANDER?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-07-22-16-43-00

This year's pullout of 23,000 American troops from Afghanistan is at the halfway mark, U.S. Gen. John Allen, the top commander of U.S. and NATO forces, said Sunday in an interview with The Associated Press.

It's a kind of milestone toward wrapping up the U.S. and NATO combat role after a decade in the war-torn nation - but Allen cautioned against putting too much emphasis on the U.S. troop drawdown, because the U.S.-led coalition's campaign is continuing.

Still, Allen said that he knows the clock is ticking on the NATO coalition's combat mission, which is to end at the close of 2014 - just 29 months from now.