Nearly half of Britons think the military campaign in Afghanistan is actually increasing the threat of a terrorist attack on home soil, a poll said Wednesday, amid rising public criticism of the war.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government and military leaders have argued that defeating the Taliban in Afghanistan will help reduce the risk of an attack by extremists in the region against Britain and other Western countries.
But only 21 percent surveyed supported that view, while 46 percent said the conflict was in fact increasing the threat by creating anger and resentment among the Muslim population, according to the GFK NOP poll.
Another 14 percent believed it was making no difference to the threat, while 19 percent said they did not know either way, the poll for the Independent newspaper said.
The poll of 1,000 voters, conducted last weekend, is the latest showing falling support for British involvement in the conflict as the troop death toll rises.
The bodies of another six soldiers were given an emotional homecoming from Afghanistan on Tuesday.
The return of the coffins -- including five men shot dead last week by a "rogue" Afghan policeman they were helping to train -- marked a low point of Britain's involvement in the eight-year conflict.
The latest repatriation of bodies also came as questions grow about the Afghan mission, crystallised in a row between Brown and one dead serviceman's grieving mother.
Brown apologised to the mother of a soldier killed last month after she complained that his handwritten letter of condolence was strewn with errors.
Re: Britons question reasons for Afghan conflict: poll
Another 14 percent believed it was making no difference to the threat,
I agree with this. Hate filled extremists will despise the West irregardless of what the West does; they shall try and destroy Britain whether Britain pulls out in one day or one century.
Re: Britons question reasons for Afghan conflict: poll
This war is getting nowhere.
I was looking at myself talking to myself and I realized this conversation...I was having with myself looking at myself was a conversation with myself that I needed to have with myself.
Re: Britons question reasons for Afghan conflict: poll
I am trying to refresh my memory as to why we (US & UK) ever got into Afghanistan.
Oh I remember it was to save the world from Bin Laden. Now let us refresh how successful this has been. Thousands of Americans dead. Thousands of British killed, many more Afghanistan Civilians killed, even more made homeless
Bin Laden virtually untouched and pretty much forgotten.
Oh I remember we are there to rid the world of opium production, success to date, opium production is probably at an all time high.
Oh I remember, it must be to render the Taliban harmless. OOps it seems like there are now more.
Oh wait now I remember it was to get rid of the tribal war lords. Duh, how were they threatening us.
Re: Britons question reasons for Afghan conflict: poll
format_quote Originally Posted by Supreme
I agree with this. Hate filled extremists will despise the West irregardless of what the West does; they shall try and destroy Britain whether Britain pulls out in one day or one century.
I disagree with that. The prinicpal source of resentment in the Muslim world is constant intervention and occupation of Muslim countries. The agenda of organisations like Al Qai'ida is not to attack the west for as long as life goes on, but to break free of the ideological and military fetters that the Muslim world has been locked in.
The Middle East issue is the focal point here. You cannot resolve contemporary so called "Islamo-fascism" until you eradicate what is a provable and clear prevailing neo-colonial mentality among the great powers. The Soviet Union couldn't pacify Afghanistan in 10 years, NATO isn't exactly much better placed either to secure the opposite result. They are fighting an insurgency in Afghanisatan in which the guerillas are zealously seeking martyrdom. This makes defeat more certain than it was for the US in Vietnam.
Ultimately they will withdraw in humiliation, just like the US did from Vietnam and Somalia in 1993. I cannot imagine the rationale behind General McCrystal's advice to deploy thousands more troops to Afghanistan in a pitiful attempt to prop up an awfully corrupt and inept regime. You'll only end up with more military and civilian casualties.
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