PUL-E-CHARKHI, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates raised the possibility Wednesday that some of the U.S. forces involved in the Afghanistan surge could leave the country before President Barack Obama's announced July 2011 date to begin withdrawal.

Without giving specifics, Gates said, "It would have to be conditions-based."

Gates made the remarks during a visit to a dust-blown training ground in Kabul province where Afghan soldiers come for weeks of training under U.S. and British instruction. British Brigadier Simon Levy told Gates that if NATO countries contribute more trainers, the project to expand the Afghan army will keep pace.

In a press conference with Gates, Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said his country is ashamed to have foreigners assuming its defense, and eager to take over the job. He referred repeatedly to the goal of some handover of responsibility by the fall of next year. The goal is to expand the Afghan National Army to 171,000 by then, and the police force to 134,000.

"I hope by that time we will be able to have the responsibility for the physical security of the country in different regions," Wardak said. "That process will continue as we go further and the numbers increase and our capabilities increase."

Gates said, "We will begin that transition no later than July of 2011, but the pace will depend also on conditions on the ground."

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A new poll shows the percentage of New York voters who say scandal-plagued Gov. David Paterson should serve out his term has edged upward.

The Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday shows that 50 percent said Paterson should serve until the end of his term rather than resign. Another 39 percent said he should resign, with 11 percent undecided.

A Quinnipiac poll released last Friday showed 46 percent of voters said Paterson should complete his term while 42 percent said he should resign. In a poll released earlier last week that number was 61 percent.

The poll questioned 1,454 New Yorkers Friday through Monday. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer accused political opponents Wednesday of trying to exploit the controversy surrounding former Rep. Eric Massa, who resigned from Congress amid accusations of sexual harassment.

"I think there were some people that did jump in and try to use this for political purposes," the Maryland Democrat said in a nationally broadcast interview, apparently referring to critics who embraced Massa's charge that he was pressured to leave by majority Democrats because of his opposition to the health care overhaul bill.

Asked directly if he or any other Democratic leaders brought pressure on the New York Democrat to step aside, Hoyer replied, "No, absolutely not."

But in an interview on NBC's "Today" show, he declined to say whom he was referring to in saying political opponents had tried to leverage some tactical advantage as a result of the Massa scandal.

House Republican Whip Eric Cantor declined to directly address Hoyer's assertion, telling interviewers: "I think I'm a little taken aback and stunned by all of this. I don't know the facts of this at all. I know that the American people are sickened by all of this."

Hoyer said one of his staffers had alerted him on Feb. 8 that a staffer working for Massa had complained of being harassed.

Hoyer said he told his aide that the person making the complaint "needed to immediately bring this to the attention of the Ethics Committee, and I said further, 'If you don't make the complaint, I will.' "

He said he had not discussed the allegation directly with Massa because he thought the ethics panel was the "appropriate" forum for investigating the complaint.