Poll: 57 Percent of Americans Think War in Afghanistan Was a Mistake
Want US troops out faster than Obama is planning, still give him highest marks on foreign policy
President Barack Obama's approval ratings for handling foreign policy issues generally top his ratings for most domestic issues, including the economy and health care, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll. But the poll also suggests a majority of Americans want the president to pull troops out of Afghanistan faster than he's doing, and many are skeptical about a tentative nuclear deal with Iran.
The poll found that 57 percent now say going to war in Afghanistan after the 2001 terror attacks was probably the "wrong thing to do." And 53 percent say the pace of the planned withdrawal is too slow, 34 percent said the pace was just about right and 10 percent said it was too fast. All combat troops are scheduled to leave by the end of 2014.
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post comments
Going into that snake pit immediately after 9-11 and causing some major destruction and death was not only the right thing to do, it was the moral thing to do. Only un-civilized, ignorant people wouldn't have.
However, not leaving six months later was really stupid. It is madness that we are still there.