Afghanistan war not worth it, majority of Republicans, Democrats say: poll

The poll comes two years after the United States pulled out of Afghanistan in August 2021 following its 20-year war, and the Taliban returned to power.

At a time when Americans are deeply divided along party lines, a new poll shows considerable agreement on at least one issue: The United States’ two-decade-long war in Afghanistan was not worth fighting.

The poll from the Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research comes two years after the U.S. pulled out of Afghanistan in August 2021 and the Taliban returned to power. The war was started to go after the masterminds of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the Taliban who allowed them to use Afghan territory.

It ended in frantic scenes of Afghans and Americans desperately trying to get on one of the last flights out of Kabul.

Polls suggest the withdrawal, seen by many as chaotic and ill-planned, may have been a turning point for President Joe Biden’s approval ratings, which started a downward slide around that time and have not recovered since.

Two-thirds of Americans say the war in Afghanistan was not worth fighting; 65 per cent of Democrats and 63 per cent of Republicans agree on that evaluation. Many have doubts about how successful the U.S. was at accomplishing more specific goals such as eliminating the threat from extremists or improving opportunities for women.

“It was unwinnable from the beginning,” said Martin Stefen, a 78-year-old Republican who lives in Carson City, Nevada. He said the U.S. should have paid closer attention to what happened to the Soviet Union, which waged a decade-long war in Afghanistan during the 1980s only to pull out in defeat in 1989. And, he said, the U.S. should have had a more specific end goal for how it wanted the war in Afghanistan to go and a better understanding of the country’s tribal politics.

That thought was echoed by Justin Campbell, a 28-year-old Democrat from Brookhaven, Mississippi. He said it was clear after the U.S. was entrenched in Afghanistan that it didn’t have very deep support. Campbell said he’s not pleased that the Taliban is back in control.

“But I don’t think it was worth us staying over there,” he said.