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Rediff.com  » News » Fewer Americans approve of Afghanistan war

Fewer Americans approve of Afghanistan war

By The Rediff News Bureau
July 16, 2010 20:15 IST
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More and more Americans believe that the Afghanistan war is not worth fighting for, and that US President Barack Obama has done a poor job of handling the conflict with the Taliban.

A poll by ABC News on the American population has revealed that the percentage of Americans supporting the Afghanistan war has declined by over 11 percent in a period of seven months -- from 52 percent in December 2009 to 43 percent in July 2010.

Adding to Obama's already plummeting popularity, a mere 45 percent of the poll participants approved of his handling the war compared to 56 percent in April this year.

The dip in approval maybe directly linked to the increase in violence and casualties in the

Casualties in the Afghanistan war has gone up in recent months – nearly 250 troopers have already died this year compared to 300 in 2009.

In contrast to the Afghanistan war, Americans' approval for the Iraq war has risen by 8 percent compared to previous year and 71 percent of them wanted complete withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

The higher approval for Iraq war maybe in direct connection with the lower levels of violence -- U.S. fatalities have fallen from 800 in 2007 to about 150 in 2009 and less than 50 this year.

Also despite the heavy toll US has had to pay in both the wars, just 53 percent of Americans feel the Afghanistan war has provided long-term security for US while 51 percent say the same about the war in Iraq.

While Obama's popularity in handling the Afghan war had risen following his war policy speech in April, but has again recorded a fall of 11 percent in July.
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