(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Fewer Americans are satisfied with their country’s military engagement in Afghanistan, according to a poll by TNS released by ABC News and the Washington Post. 51 per cent of respondents think the mission in Afghanistan against the Taliban and al-Qaeda has not been successful, up 27 points since October 2002.

In addition, 51 per cent of respondents think the war in Afghanistan was worth fighting, down six points since February 2007.

Afghanistan has been the main battleground in the war on terrorism. The conflict began in October 2001, after the Taliban regime refused to hand over Osama bin Laden, prime suspect in the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. Al-Qaeda operatives hijacked and crashed four airplanes on Sept. 11, 2001, killing nearly 3,000 people.

At least 884 soldiers—including 552 Americans—have died in the war on terrorism, either in support of the U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom or as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

On Jul. 15, U.S. president George W. Bush discussed the current state of affairs, saying, "Afghanistan is a tough fight. It’s a tough fight because, one, this is a state that had been just ravaged by previous wars, and there wasn’t a lot of central government outreach to the people. Secondly, there is a tough enemy, and they’re brutal, and they kill at the drop of a hat in order to affect behaviour. It’s a little bit reminiscent of what was taking place in Iraq a couple of years ago, where the enemy knows that they can affect the mentality of the American people if they just continue to kill innocent folks."

Polling Data

Overall, do you think the U.S. military action in Afghanistan against the Taliban and al-Qaeda has been successful or not successful?

Thinking now about Afghanistan, all in all, considering the costs to the United States versus the benefits to the United States, do you think the war in Afghanistan was worth fighting, or not?

Source: TNS / ABC News / Washington Post
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,119 American adults, conducted from Jul. 10 to Jul. 13, 2008. Margin of error is 3 per cent.

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