Among American people :
Opposition to Afghan war highest ever
AFGHANISTAN: A new poll shows that opposition to the Afghan
war among American people has hit a record high, with nearly two thirds
of them saying the war is no longer worth fighting.
According to the Washington Post -ABC News opinion poll published on
Tuesday, 64 percent of respondents say they are opposed to the war in
Afghanistan “considering the costs vs. the benefits to the United
States, as compared to 31 percent of people, who think otherwise, a
Press TV correspondent reported.
Analysts say this is the highest proportion yet opposed to the Afghan
war, which has claimed the lives of an estimated 2,366 troops since it
began in 2001. The war costs the United States over $100 billion a year.
Nearly three quarters of Americans also say US President Barack Obama
should order the drawdown of a “substantial number” of combat troops
from Afghanistan this summer, according to the survey.
However, only 39 percent of respondents say they expect Obama to
withdraw large numbers of US-led soldiers from the war-wrecked country.
Defense analysts and other lawmakers are more skeptical that billions
of tax dollars used for development aid isn’t helping Afghanistan as
much as it is supposed to. They also believe that it is unlikely that
the growing opposition sways Obama for an incremental drawdown of the
war efforts.
“I would be very surprised if more than a few hundred troops were
withdrawing,” US Senator Susan Collins told Press TV.
Meanwhile,the figures came on the very same day that US Army General
David Petraeus, who is the top US commander in Afghanistan, testified
before a Senate committee hearing on the future of Afghanistan and
claimed that US-led forces are making progress in the unpopular war.
In a four-hour hearing that was his first since taking command in
Kabul last summer, Petraeus also claimed that there has been a
significant halt to Taliban momentum in battlefields, thus enabling the
US troops to begin pulling out in July
He cautioned, however, that security progress is still “fragile and
reversible,” with much difficult work ahead when the Taliban launch an
expected spring offensive.
Last year was the deadliest of the nearly decade-long war for foreign
troops, with more than 700 killed, compared to just more than 500 in
2009.
Despite the presence of some 150,000 NATO forces, the violence and
daily militant attacks have not been subdued in Afghanistan.
Press TV
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