Support for Afghan war slips among Americans

KABUL war among US citizens has slipped below 20 percent, making America’s longest military conflict arguably the most unpopular, a new poll revealed on Monday.

A majority of Americans favoured the pullout of US troops from Afghanistan before the December 2014 deadline, according to the survey conducted by ORC International for Cable News Network (CNN).

Conducted between December 16 and 19, the survey polled 1,035 adults across the country and has an overall sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

Only 17 percent of the respondents backed the 12-year-long war — down from 52 percent in December 2008. Aversion to the war increased to 82 percent from 46 percent five years ago.

CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said: “Those numbers show the war in Afghanistan with far less support than other conflicts.” Opposition to the Iraq war never got higher than 69 percent in CNN polling, he added.

Most of respondents believed the timetable for the removal of nearly all troops by the end of 2014 was not near. More than 50 percent wanted U.S. troops withdrawn earlier, with 25 percent saying America should have a military presence in Afghanistan beyond 2014.

PAN Monitor/mud

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