American Sentiment On Afghanistan War: A Complex Divide

Public opinion on the war in Afghanistan has shifted over time. In the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, polls showed that 93% of Americans backed military action against those responsible, with over 80% supporting the war in Afghanistan specifically. However, as the war dragged on, public support began to wane. By 2004, only 60% of Americans supported the war, with 41% of Democrats considering it a mistake.

In the following years, public opinion continued to turn against the war, with a majority of Americans eventually opposing it. By 2014, a Washington Post-ABC News survey found that most people wanted to keep around 10,000 troops in Afghanistan, but by 2016, Donald Trump had campaigned successfully on a promise to end U.S. troop involvement.

In 2021, as the U.S. military evacuation of Afghanistan was completed, 54% of U.S. adults agreed with the decision to withdraw troops, while 42% disagreed. However, a majority of Americans were critical of the Biden administration's handling of the situation, with only 26% giving the administration excellent or good ratings.

Support for the war in Afghanistan waned over time

Support for the war in Afghanistan was initially very high, with 93% of Americans backing military action in the country in the aftermath of 9/11. However, over time, this support waned.

In 2004, 41% of Democrats considered the war in Afghanistan to be a mistake, compared to just 9% of Republicans. This partisan divide would continue, with Democrats consistently expressing less support for the war than Republicans.

By 2010-2014, public opinion had turned sharply against the war. The number of US troops in the country had hit 100,000, the highest point of the war, and several controversial events had taken place, including the capture of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl by the Taliban and an American soldier allegedly committing a mass shooting of Afghan civilians. Despite the death of Osama bin Laden, the architect of 9/11, in 2011, public support for the war did not increase. A Washington Post-ABC News poll from 2011 found that 54% of Americans said the war wasn't worth fighting, and a year later, 66% of Americans opposed the war.

In 2016, Donald Trump was elected president on a platform that included a promise to end US troop involvement in Afghanistan, and in 2020, he entered a deal with the Taliban. When President Biden announced the withdrawal of all US troops from Afghanistan in April 2021, it was met with significant public support. However, this support did not extend to the way in which the withdrawal was executed, with several polls showing that a majority of Americans believed the process was handled poorly.

In summary, while the war in Afghanistan initially enjoyed strong public support, this support diminished over time as the conflict dragged on, with a growing number of Americans ultimately coming to view the war as a mistake and a failure.

Support for the war was higher than for the Iraq War

Support for the war in Afghanistan was higher than for the Iraq War

The war in Afghanistan was initially popular with the American public, with a Washington Post/ABC News poll released two days after the 9/11 attacks finding that 93% of Americans backed taking military action against those responsible. Support for the war at times topped 90% in the early months of the fighting.

However, support for the war in Afghanistan waned over time, and by 2010-2014, public opinion had turned sharply against it. Despite this, the war remained significantly more popular than the Iraq War for a long time.

The war in Afghanistan was initially popular because it was seen as a response to the 9/11 attacks, and the initial objectives of the war were to oust the Taliban regime and to destroy terrorist groups. However, as the war dragged on, the mission pivoted from rooting out terrorists to nation-building, which was less satisfying to the American public.

The war in Iraq, on the other hand, was based on false pretenses. In the months leading up to the war, the Bush administration outlined the dangers that Iraq posed to the United States and its allies, including that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and that it supported terrorism and had close ties to terrorist groups, including al-Qaida. However, as numerous investigations by independent and governmental commissions subsequently found, there was no factual basis for either of these assertions.

Differences between the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq

There are several key differences between the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that may have contributed to the higher level of support for the war in Afghanistan:

• The war in Afghanistan was seen as a response to the 9/11 attacks, whereas the war in Iraq was not.
• The war in Afghanistan had broad congressional support when it was initiated, whereas the war in Iraq was more divisive.
• The war in Afghanistan was seen as a necessary response to a direct threat to U.S. national security, whereas the war in Iraq was seen as a preventative measure.
• The war in Afghanistan was seen as a way to bring democracy to a country that had been under Taliban rule, whereas the war in Iraq was seen as an attempt to impose American-style democracy on a country with a very different cultural and political history.
• The war in Afghanistan was seen as a way to protect U.S. interests in the region, including preventing the rise of extremist groups and ensuring stability in neighbouring countries, whereas the war in Iraq was seen as a distraction from the "real" war on terror in Afghanistan.

Americans were more supportive of maintaining the US military footprint in Afghanistan than deploying troops into other conflicts

In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the American public supported military action against those responsible. In the early months of the war in Afghanistan, support for the war at times topped 90%. However, over the past 20 years, Americans' support for the war has consistently waned.

Despite this, Americans remain comparably supportive of maintaining the US military footprint in Afghanistan, relative to their hesitancy to deploy US troops into other conflicts. A 2019 poll found that 38% of Democrats and 34% of Republicans favoured maintaining current troop levels in Afghanistan. In contrast, attitudes towards the US withdrawal from northern Syria were set along party lines, with a 43-percentage-point difference between Democrats and Republicans.

A 2009 survey found that 44% of respondents felt the US had an obligation towards the Afghan government and segments of Afghan society affected by the war. A plurality of respondents (34%) also favoured maintaining current troop levels.

In 2010, a majority of Americans turned against the war. However, a 2011 poll found that 51% of Americans thought the war was worth fighting, while 45% thought it was not.

In 2021, 54% of US adults said that the decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan was the right one, while 42% said it was wrong.

In summary, while support for the war in Afghanistan has waned over the past two decades, Americans are more supportive of maintaining the US military footprint in Afghanistan than deploying troops into other conflicts.

Support for the war was initially high, with 93% of Americans backing military action

Support for the war in Afghanistan was initially very high, with 93% of Americans backing military action in the country in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. This support was largely bipartisan, with 9% of Republicans and 41% of Democrats considering the war a mistake in 2004. However, as the war dragged on, public opinion began to shift. By 2010-2014, public opinion had turned sharply against the war, with 54% of Americans saying the war wasn't worth fighting. This sentiment only grew over time, with 62% of Americans expressing this view in an August 2021 poll.

The war in Afghanistan was initially popular because U.S. and allied forces were having success in hunting down al-Qaeda militants and removing the Taliban from power. However, as the mission shifted from counter-terrorism to nation-building, public support for the war began to wane. Democrats began breaking off their support more so than Republicans, and their support never returned in large numbers.

Despite the declining support for the war, Americans continued to approve of military escalations, as long as they were sold as temporary measures with the goal of exiting the war. For example, President Barack Obama's 2009 surge of 30,000 troops received high marks, with 59% of Americans expressing support according to a CNN poll.

While support for the war was strong initially, it is important to note that Americans also had doubts about the chances of success and the potential costs of the war. A poll in late October 2001 found that only 28% of Americans were very confident that the United States could capture or kill Osama bin Laden, the primary goal of the war. Additionally, a November 2001 Gallup poll found that 87% of Americans thought the war would be long, and 51% expected high casualties among U.S. troops.

A majority of Americans believe the US failed to achieve its goals in Afghanistan

The US war in Afghanistan was the longest war in US history. It lasted 20 years and cost the US government over $2 trillion. The war was initiated in response to the 9/11 attacks, with the goal of defeating al-Qaeda and its Taliban hosts and preventing a repeat of the attacks.

Public Opinion on the War

Public support for the war in Afghanistan has consistently waned over the past 20 years. A poll by AP/NORC on August 16 found that 62% of Americans thought the war in Afghanistan wasn't worth fighting. Similarly, a poll from Pew in late August found that 69% of Americans didn't think the US achieved its goals in Afghanistan.

Reasons for the Lack of Support

There are several reasons why Americans believe the US failed to achieve its goals in Afghanistan:

• Insecurity: Successful reconstruction is incompatible with continuing insecurity. The US was not able to create a stable government in Afghanistan, and the Taliban remained a constant threat.
• Corruption: Unchecked corruption in Afghanistan undermined US goals, and the US helped foster that corruption. Billions of dollars were wasted, stolen, or failed to address the problems they were meant to fix.
• Lack of Clear Strategy: There was no clear reconstruction strategy, and no single military service, agency, or country was in charge of reconstruction efforts. The US also constantly changed its mission and priorities, losing sight of its original goal of defeating al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
• Short-Term Thinking: Politically driven timelines undermined reconstruction efforts. The US focused on short-term gains rather than long-term sustainability. Many of the institutions and infrastructure projects the US built were not sustainable and fell into disrepair.
• Inadequate Personnel: Counterproductive civilian and military personnel policies and practices thwarted the effort. US personnel were often unqualified and poorly trained, and those who were qualified were difficult to retain. There was also a constant turnover of US personnel, which negatively impacted reconstruction efforts.
• Lack of Understanding: The US did not understand the Afghan context and therefore failed to tailor its efforts accordingly. It imposed Western technocratic models onto Afghan economic institutions, trained security forces in advanced weapon systems they could not understand or maintain, and struggled to support women and girls effectively.
• Lack of Monitoring and Evaluation: US government agencies rarely conducted sufficient monitoring and evaluation to understand the impact of their efforts. This led to a lack of accountability and an inability to adapt programs to better achieve their goals.

In conclusion, a majority of Americans believe the US failed to achieve its goals in Afghanistan due to a variety of factors, including insecurity, corruption, lack of clear strategy, short-term thinking, inadequate personnel, lack of understanding of the Afghan context, and lack of monitoring and evaluation. These issues led to a perception that the US was unable to create a stable and secure Afghanistan, which was the ultimate goal of the war.

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