Gingrich, by the way, is one of a growing number of prominent Republicans considering a run for president in 2012.

Opinion polls suggest public support for the war in Afghanistan has slipped in recent months.

The latest Quinnipiac University poll found 43 percent support the president's handling of the conflict, while 46 percent disapprove.

But the polling on Afghanistan is complicated. That same Quinnipiac poll also found that by a margin of 59 to 34 percent, Americans believe that preventing terrorists from using Afghanistan as a base of operations is still a worthwhile goal for the United States.

On the other hand, only 44 percent believed the war is worth the cost in a recent ABC News

Washington Post

poll, down from 56 percent in March of last year.

"And so the question is, even if it is real successful, is it worth the cost and effort and money and so forth? And I think a lot of that previous support is turning to, if not opposition, at least to a sort of weariness and discontent," said John Mueller, who monitors public opinion on the war at Ohio State University.

Some analysts predict that the discontent among liberal Democrats over the war will grow in the months ahead.

"I think Obama is going to feel under great political pressure from his political left to at least have a token withdrawal next summer," said political expert Tom DeFrank of the

New York Daily News.