PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR AFGHAN SUPPORT FADING
LONDON – Public support for the war in Afghanistan is falling, while more than 40 percent do not understand why British troops are fighting there, a poll released on Remembrance Sunday showed.
Source: AFP
- Some 64 percent agreed that "the war in Afghanistan is unwinnable", up six percent from July, while 27 percent disagreed, down four percent. Ten percent said they did not know.
- Similar numbers said British forces should be withdrawn as quickly as possible, with 63 percent agreeing and 31 percent disagreeing.
- Some 54 percent felt they had "a good understanding of the purpose of Britain's mission in Afghanistan", with 42 percent disagreeing.
- "Overall there is the sense that Afghanistan is becoming for (British Prime Minister) Gordon Brown what Iraq became for (his predecessor) Tony Blair," said Andrew Hawkins, chief executive of pollsters ComRes.
- "More than four in 10 don't understand Britain's mission; support for the British presence there is ebbing away, and a majority have responded to the presidential election very negatively indeed.
- "The results suggest that the impact of the war must be having an impact on Labour support, since it is that party's core supporters who are most strongly opposed to it."
- Meanwhile 52 percent agreed that "the levels of corruption involved in the recent presidential election show the war in Afghanistan is not worth fighting for." Thirty-six percent disagreed.
- "This is potentially devastating for the government's case for war," said Hawkins.
- ComRes surveyed 1,009 adults of different ages and social classes across Britain for BBC television's "The Politics Show".
AUSTRALIA SEEKS QUIK AFGHAN TROOP WITHDRAWAL
Australia on Wednesday said it wanted to bring its military involvement in Afghanistan to a quick end, despite US and NATO calls for more troops to shore up the campaign against a resurgent Taliban.
Source: AFP
- Defence Minister John Faulkner said Australia was studying how to complete the mission in the "shortest time-frame possible". Australia has about 1,550 troops in Afghanistan with no date set for their withdrawal.
- "I've certainly asked the Australian Defence Force for any recommendations they have about ensuring we do complete that important role and responsibility both effectively, but in the shortest time-frame possible," he told ABC radio.
- Faulkner admitted Australia's move would affect the push by General Stanley McChrystal, the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, for an Iraq-style troop "surge" against the increasingly powerful Taliban militia.
- "I've been discussing these issues with the chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, and obviously it's a critically important matter for me," he said.
- "I'm not going to talk specifically about the approaches we'll take but I do acknowledge that there will be impacts on the approach that NATO and ISAF partners will be taking as a result of General McChrystal's 60-day assessment."
- McChrystal warned last month that the war could be lost within a year without extra resources to fight the Islamists, who were driven from power by the 2001 US-led invasion.
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