60% of americans think the afghan war was a bad idea or mistake, which is the highest level ever, so the american public is certainly losing patience and it's costing billions to do this, and taxpayers certainly have a reason to think they have to have a return on their investment. if there isn't real progress by the summer, i think a lot of people, including myself, will say, well, a vanityian effort was made, but this didn't work out. right now it's an open question. >> peter, thank you. so what does this mean for u.s. troops in afghanistan? let's make it really personal here. let's bring in pentagon correspondent barbara starr. the report says the u.s. is on course to begin pulling troops out next year. do you hear that sentiment echoed in the has of the pentagon? >> you know, this is the stated policy. july 2011, troops will start coming home, but by all indications, it is going to be a