Americans' support for Afghan war drops sharply
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail Xinhua, March 28, 2012
A new poll released Tuesday shows a sharp fall in public support for the Afghanistan war on the back of recent setbacks for U.S. and NATO troops.
A total of 69 percent of respondents said the United States should not be at war in Afghanistan, compared with 53 percent four months ago, the New York Times/CBS News poll showed.
The survey also found that 68 percent thought the fighting was going "somewhat badly" or "very badly," compared with 42 percent who had those opinions in November.
A spate of incidents, including the massacre of 17 Afghan civilians by a U.S. soldier and violence triggered by the burning of Qurans at a U.S. military base, have dealt a heavy blow to the U.S. and NATO mission in Afghanistan, further straining the relationship between Washington and Kabul.
While a majority of Americans hold unfavorable views toward the war, which has been going on for more than a decade, they seem more divided on the withdrawal timeline.
Forty-four percent said the United States should pull out all its combat forces from the war-torn country before 2014, while 33 percent favored sticking to the current timetable and 17 percent said troops should stay until the current situation stabilized.
Under the Obama administration's timetable, U.S. and NATO forces are set to withdraw most of their troops by 2014, when Afghan forces will take on the security responsibility.
The recent setbacks in the battlefield put President Barack Obama under increasing pressure to accelerate troop withdrawal.
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)