It is too early to judge Afghan troop surge, Biden

US Vice President Joseph Biden said it was too early to gauge progress of US troop surge in AfghanistanIn an interview with ABC television's This Week, Biden also termed President Barack Obama's self-imposed timeline to begin withdrawing troops in July 2011 as the beginning of a transition that could see as few as 2,000 soldiers leave the country. Asked whether the United States was losing the nearly nine-year war, Biden said it was too early to make a judgment. We don't even have all the troops of the so-called surge in place yet. That won't happen until August, he added, noting the military has said progress should be evident by December. For the first time, Biden publicly addressed disparaging remarks made by the former top commander in Afghanistan and his aides in a Rolling Stone magazine article published last month. While the vice president insisted he did not feel personally attacked by General McChrystal, Biden said it was necessary to have fired the general touted as a master of US counterinsurgency strategy. I didn't take it personally at all, I really, honest to God, didn't, Biden said. The US vice president's interview aired on the same day a bicycle-bound suicide bomber struck a bustling street in Kabul, killing three people and wounding dozens more in the deadliest suicide attack in the Afghan capital in two months and just two days ahead of a major international conference.