(Image source: Press TV)

BY ALLIE SPILLYARDS
 

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It’s a question that’s plagued Congress for 10 years: Stay for the win or get out now? U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has announced the U.S. will start paring down the number of troops in Afghanistan starting as early as this summer.

But General David Petraeus -- set to testify next week in Washington -- has painted a mixed picture of the successes and failures of the war effort.

And the media can’t agree if now is the right time to pull back. A blogger for Time concedes progress has been made in Kandahar province -- but says a summer draw down has two possible outcomes.  

“...this year we'll see if the progress made in Kandahar will stick. If it does, then the [Afghan National Army] can take over; if it doesn't, then the current strategy will have failed and it will be time for a more modest ... plan.”

But an analysis by The New York Times’ C.J. Chivers is even less optimistic.

“The Taliban and the groups it collaborates with remain deeply rooted; the Afghan military and police remain lackluster and given to widespread drug use; and President Hamid Karzai’s government, by almost all accounts, remains weak, corrupt and erratically led.”

Author David Cortwright tells MSNBC’S Dylan Ratigan - the bigger question might be - how to stabilize Afghanistan with fewer troops.

“That needs to be combined in my view with a whole series of other measures. We need to try to figure out a cease fire arrangement with the insurgents. I think we need to talk directly with the insurgents to try to arrange a political accommodation in Kabul. And we need a security agreement.”

But much of the debate isn’t whether the war is over ... it’s whether the number of lives lost have been worth it.

“While Petraeus says extra forces in the region have made progress, he described the gains as ‘fragile and reversible.’ Last year was the deadliest of the nearly 10-year-old war for coalition forces, with 702 people killed, including nearly 500 Americans.”

And that -- MSNBC’s Mike Barnicle says -- is unacceptable.

“Afghanistan is just bleeding us. It’s bleeding us, obviously too many lives lost. A 20 year old lost yesterday. A 22 year old lost yesterday. ...Into a cause and a country that’s going to remain essentially the same whether we’re there or not there.”

But Major General John Campbell tells Fox News’ Geraldo Rivera - although American lives have been lost - the cause is worth fighting for.

GERALDO: “Has it been worth the cost?”
CAMPBELL: “They have not died in vain. We’ll continue to fight.”

Secretary Gates says he expects troops will remain on Afghan soil until 2014.

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Transcript by Newsy.