Afghanistan War: Public opinion turns sharply against US forces

[unhappycamper]

A group of Afghans outside a market in Bamiyan province, Afghanistan, on June 8, 2008. Public opinion polls show that support for the U.S. military is only slightly higher than support for Osama bin Laden.


Afghanistan War: Public opinion turns sharply against US forces
By Jean MacKenzie - GlobalPost
Published: December 9, 2010 06:08 ET in Asia

KABUL, Afghanistan — First the good news: U.S. forces are still more popular in Afghanistan than Osama bin Laden. Fully 6 percent of respondents in a new poll expressed a “very favorable” opinion of American troops, versus just 2 percent for the fugitive Al Qaeda leader.

To be fair, the United States scored much higher in the more grudging “somewhat favorable” category, outstripping the world’s most wanted man by 36 percent to just 4. But more than half of all Afghans — 55 percent — want U.S. forces out of their country, and the sooner the better.

Add it all up, and it is pretty bad news for the U.S. military as it examines its options ahead of next week’s Afghanistan strategy review.

During U.S. President Barack Obama’s lightening visit to Kabul on Dec. 3, White House aides said confidently that no major adjustments were expected to the present strategy, which, in the minds and words of most military leaders, is now firmly on course.

That strategy has foreign troops in Afghanistan for at least another four years, while the focus turns to training and equipping Afghan forces to handle their own security, the much-vaunted “transition” to full Afghan sovereignty.

[DCKit]

1. So, they were OK when we were slaughtering their kids and elderly... what changed?

Ingrates.

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Lemme think this through...

The Afghans don't want us there.

The American public doesn't want us there.

The Afghan war has cost us just short of 400 billion so far.

It's obvious that there is only one thing to do.

Stay the course.