Only 38 Percent Of Americans Want More Troops In Afghanistan

October 7, 2009 11:40 a.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - A new poll has found that more than half of Americans believe the war in Afghanistan is the right thing to do and are willing to have U.S. troops "fight and possibly die" to end the terror threat based in the nation, but do not support the idea of building a stable Afghan democracy nor of sending additional troops.

The administration is currently reviewing the strategy in Afghanistan, and President Barack Obama on Wednesday continues a series of meetings with his national security team about how to move the eight-year war forward.

According to a Quinnipiac University poll, 65 percent of Americans are willing to have U.S. soldiers fight and risk their lives to defeat terrorists operating from Afghanistan, while 28 percent feel otherwise.

However, most are against having troops "fight and possibly die" to build a stable democracy in the war-torn nation by a margin of 52 to 39 percent. Americans expect, by a 62 to 22 percent margin, this goal of nation-building will fail.

There is disagreement over how long the United States should stay in Afghanistan: 30 percent support having a large number of troops "as long as it takes," while 28 percent want forces to leave in less than a year, and 21 percent believe one to two years is enough time.

Americans trust Obama by a margin of 55 to 38 percent to make the right decisions on troop levels in Afghanistan. Democrats trust him 84 to 11 percent, and independents 52 to 41 percent. Only 27 percent of Republicans trust the President on the issue, and 66 percent distrust him.

Eighty-one percent of Americans trust the military to give the right recommendations about the number of troops, while only 15 percent feel otherwise. Nonetheless, only 38 percent want troop levels increased, 28 percent want troops to be decreased, and 21 percent simply want current levels maintained.

Obama has been meeting with Pentagon and Cabinet official about the next steps to take in the Afghan war, which he says is inextricably linked to Pakistan.

On Wednesday and Friday, he hosts strategy sessions with Defense Sec. Robert Gates, NATO and U.S. commander Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen, Gen. David Petraeus of the U.S. Central Command, and other members of his national security team.

This year is the most tragic for American troops in Afghanistan, where violence has risen about 60 percent from last year. There are currently 62,000 troops deployed there, 38.000 of which are in NATO's International Security Assistance Force.

The President in March announced a new strategy that included the deployment of 21,000 additional troops, and training and increasing the size of the Afghan Army to 134,000 and the police force to 82,000 by 2011.

In the end of August, McChrystal submitted his strategic assessment of the war, saying the engagement is in serious jeopardy unless changes are made in 12 months, such as sending more troops to stem the growing Taliban insurgency.

His assessment has ostensibly opened up a rift between the military and the White House, which has insisted that no decisions on resources will be made before decisions on strategy are fully considered.

Civilian leaders such as Gates and National Security Adviser Gen. Jim Jones have also publicly urged military officials to provide "private" advice to the President, and "through the chain of command."

Obama has repeatedly said his administration will take "a very deliberate approach" in developing a strategy, despite criticisms against delaying a troop surge much like the one implemented in Iraq.

But McChrystal last week said in a speech before the Institute for Strategic Studies in London that decreasing troops would be a "short-sighted" strategy, and that using more drone and missile attacks, which Vice President Joe Biden has proposed, would lead to "Chaos-istan."

Obama on Tuesday consulted congressional leaders about the war, and Republicans issued cautious statements after the White House gathering, recognizing "the opportunity to have a candid and constructive conversation with the President," and "the fact that the President wants to make sure that our next steps in Afghanistan."

But they made clear that "timing is important because unnecessary delay could undermine the opportunity to achieve success," and asked that McChrystal be allowed to testify before Congress.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), however, said in a statement, "The Afghanistan-Pakistan border is the single most active terrorist haven in the world, and it is vital to our national security that we get this right... now is not the time to rush the process or force the President's hand."

The White House has said that the strategy and not the original mission in Afghanistan -- which is "disrupting, dismantling and ultimately destroying al Qaeda and its extremist allies" -- is under review.

"General [McChrystal] made an assessment, and we're going through a series of decisions, including that assessment," Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said in a briefing early this week.