Flagging American public support for the war was a key factor in deciding to bring all 33,000 US surge troops home from Afghanistan by the end of next summer, Defense Secretary Robert Gates told AFP Thursday.

The outgoing Pentagon chief acknowledged that the US commander on the ground, General David Petraeus, favored a slower withdrawal that would have kept more troops in place to consolidate fragile gains against the Taliban.

The "advantages and disadvantages" of a range of options were debated in White House deliberations, including "not only the situation on the ground in Afghanistan but also political sustainability here at home," Gates said.

Speaking a day after US President Barack Obama announced his plan to pull out the 33,000 reinforcements by the end of September 2012, Gates said he was "comfortable" with the result and the discussions that preceded it.

"He (Obama) had a range of options that began next July with the drawdown," Gates told AFP in an interview in his office at the Pentagon. "Obviously he had preferred options that gave more time."

While he acknowledged that the military had a preference for a more modest drawdown, Gates said this wasn't surprising as top commanders always want to have more forces deployed.

"I would just say, both from my experience in this job and as a historian, I'm not aware of a single general ever in history that did not want more troops and more time," he said.

Petraeus, the four-star general who is set to step down soon to take over as CIA director, attended at least two of the three White House meetings on the drawdown decision, and had his chance to present his views, Gates said.

"He was in the meetings, at least the last two, and participated vigorously," he said.

In a televised speech on Wednesday, Obama did not specify precisely when the troops would depart.

Gates said all 33,000 reinforcements, who were ordered to Afghanistan in December 2009 to turn the tide in the war, will be withdrawn by "the end of September."

Some lawmakers and commentators on the right have accused Obama of jeopardizing gains against insurgents for purely political considerations ahead of 2012 presidential elections.

But Gates, a well-respected 67-year-old Washington veteran who is retiring at the end of the month, defended Obama's decision, saying it reflected both progress on the battlefield as well the political climate at home.

"I think these things are arbitrary to a certain extent, including the military timelines," he said.

"They're a best estimate in terms of the military commanders, and they're a best estimate in terms of the president's desire for success in our mission in Afghanistan, which also requires political sustainability here at home."

Gates pointed out that while former president George W. Bush withdrew his surge force in Iraq after a year, Obama will have kept reinforcements in place in Afghanistan for about two years.

Echoing Obama's remarks on Wednesday, he said the reduced US presence would not alter what he called Washington's "limited" goals in the war, reflecting a greater sense of "realism" after a strategy review in 2009.

Those goals are: to reverse the insurgents' momentum; deny them control of populated areas; degrade their capabilities; and to bolster Afghan security forces to a point where they can prevent the overthrow of the Kabul government and the reestablishment of safe-havens for Al-Qaeda or other extremists.

"That's it," he said.

Gates also said militant sanctuaries in neighboring Pakistan remained a concern but that success in the war was possible even if Islamabad fails to fully cooperate in countering extremists along its border.

With Pakistan taking some positive steps, he said: "I think that as long as the picture stays mixed like that, that we can be successful."

He said that it was "not in the cards" for Pakistan to change its "strategic calculus," which focuses on India as an overriding threat.

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