Showing posts with label public-support. Show all posts
Showing posts with label public-support. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

DoD Press Releases - No Afghan News

The Department of Defense press machine has virtually ignored Afghanistan but is providing a mountain of information about Iraq (and Syria). Although there are still over 20,000 (?) U.S. troops still in Afghanistan and only 1,600 (?) in Iraq. This, of course, is intentional. The military and the administration want the public's focus to be on building support for intervention in Iraq (and Syria) and want to push Afghanistan into the background. Read more in "DOD highlights information from Iraq as emphasis shifts away from Afghanistan", Stars and Stripes, September 21, 2014.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

American Support For Afghan War at Record Low

A recent news article states that American support for the Afghan war is at a record low.  See "Afghan war not worth it, say most Americans", The Sydney Morning Herald, December 18, 2010.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Are We Winning or Losing in Afghanistan?

An opinion piece by a Canadian columnist who says we are not winning in Afghanistan.
"The few Taliban fighters who are able to read would find your assertion that they will be hard pressed to wait out NATO laughable. While NATO looks for nice tidy end dates, Afghanistan is steeped in a tribal culture where time is irrelevant. The defending of honour or exacting of revenge could happen today, four years from now or a generation from now. The West has poured billions of dollars into the fight. We have jet fighters, helicopter gunships, tanks, artillery, unmanned drones and the best trained and equipped soldiers in the history of warfare. The mostly illiterate Taliban have AK 47s, Soviet era RPGs, opium to finance their battle and a few goats. Still they fight."
See "West losing an unwinnable war", The Star, November 27, 2010.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Asia Foundation Conducts a Poll: Afghan's Say Things are Improving

"A recent poll reveals that many Afghans actually believe things are getting better — slowly, to be sure, but improving despite the odds. The survey was directed by the Asia Foundation in Kabul. It was the sixth public opinion poll conducted by the foundation since 2004, providing a snapshot of public opinion in Afghanistan over time. The 634 trained Afghan pollsters interviewed 6,500 Afghans, almost equally divided between men and women and including all ethnic groups, across the country’s 34 provinces. When instability or the presence of fighting placed areas off limits, sampling replacements were made in the same region. The polling was done two months before the September parliamentary elections."
Read the rest of the article in "The Afghan View", The New York Times, November 18, 2010.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Latest Poll Results Prompt Calls for Quitting Afghanistan (International Council of Security and Development)

A recent poll conducted by the International Council on Security and Development (ICSD) has prompted some to call for an early withdrawal from Afghanistan.  It is obvious from the poll results that we are losing the information operations (or do we now call it "strategic communications"?) battle.  Read a recent columnist's opinion of this poll and what we should do in "It's braver to quit Afghanistan now", The Guardian, November 21, 2010.

The following is the text from the website of the ICSD which provides some background information on the poll conducted in October 2010. 
"In October 2010 the International Council on Security and Development (ICOS) interviewed 1500 Afghan men in southern and northern Afghanistan. In Helmand and Kandahar, 1000 men were interviewed. In Panjshir and Parwan, 500 men were interviewed.

The two clusters of provinces chosen by ICOS reflect very different ethnic and political situations. Panjshir and Parwan are dominated by ethnic Tajiks, and were the stronghold of the anti-Taliban fighter Ahmad Shah Massoud during the civil war of the 1990s. They are now usually regarded as amongst the more peaceful areas of Afghanistan. Helmand and Kandahar, which are heavily Pashtun, were the homeland of the Taliban movement, and today are at the centre of the insurgency in Afghanistan.

Kandahar and Helmand, along with Kunar province in the north-east, see 60% of the insurgent attacks across Afghanistan, according to NATO-ISAF. Therefore the ICOS research in these southern provinces provides a unique insight into the most relevant cohort of the Afghan population, in the most relevant areas of the country.

The questions assessed a range of subjects including interviewees’ perceptions of NATO-ISAF and the wider international community, their attitudes towards the Taliban, and their opinions on international development efforts in their community. This ICOS field research offers a unique insight on the attitudes of the Afghan people on these issues."
The poll results can be downloaded from the ICSD at the link below:

http://www.icosgroup.net/modules/reports/afghanistan_transition_missing_variables

Poll Results: Afghans Still Wary of Foreign Troops

A poll conducted by Canadian researcher Norine MacDonald has revealed some interesting information.  Only 8% of those Afghans polled realize that 9/11 is the reason that the United States invaded Afghanistan.  Many do not understand what we are trying to accomplish in Afghanistan and view us as foreign invaders occupying their country.  Read more on this topic in "How to win over the Afghans", The Washington Post, November 21, 2010.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Survey of Afghan People Conducted by The Asia Foundation

A recent poll conducted by The Asia Foundation is being used by supporters and detractors of the Afghan War to support their arguments.  The polls seems to be legitimate yet it is interpreted in various ways depending on your outlook of the war.  You will find the media is citing it quite frequently in news postings.  The blurb below is from The Asia Foundations website and provides info on the survey.

"On November 9, 2010, The Asia Foundation released findings from Afghanistan in 2010: A Survey of the Afghan People – the broadest public opinion poll in the country. Conducted by The Asia Foundation's office in Afghanistan, the 2010 survey polled 6,467 Afghan citizens across all 34 provinces in the country on security, development, economy, government, corruption, and women's issues to assess the mood and direction of the country. In-person interviews were conducted from June 18 – July 5, 2010 with a multi-stage random sample of Afghan citizens 18 years of age and older, both women and men, from different social, economic, and ethnic communities in rural and urban areas."
Read or download the survey by The Asia Foundation entitled "Afghanistan in 2010: A Survey of the Afghan People" .

Monday, October 4, 2010

Gates Say American Public Detached from the Military and the War

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has said that the U.S. public is detached from the human cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The burden of the nation's defense is borne by less than one percent of the nations' population.  Read more in "Gates: Too few in U.S. bear the burdens of war", Marine Corp Times, September 30, 2010.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Six in Ten Americans Oppose the Afghanistan War

"Nearly six in 10 Americans continue to oppose the war in Afghanistan amid a growing pessimism about the situation the United States faces in that country, according to a new national poll.  A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Wednesday indicates that 44 percent of the public believes things are going well for the United States in Afghanistan, down from 55 percent in March.  According to the poll, 58 percent of Americans oppose the war in Afghanistan, with opposition highest among Democrats." 
Read the rest of the article here:  "CNN poll: Growing pessimism in U.S. over Afghanistan war", Afghanistan Crossroads - CNN, September 30, 2010.