Public opinion studies show that support for the war in Afghanistan largely hinges on the perceived purpose for continued troop involvement. In an October Gallup/USA Today poll, 80 percent of respondents said that weakening terrorist’s ability to stage attacks against the United States was an important reason to keep troops in Afghanistan. In that same poll, 69 percent said that keeping the Taliban from taking control of Afghanistan was an important reason. Only 51 percent said that building a stable democratic government was an important reason. An October Quinnipiac University poll found similar results. Only 39 percent of respondents said that building a stable democratic government was a worthwhile goal for U.S. troops, while 65 percent said that eliminating terrorists operating in Afghanistan was a worthwhile goal.
A preference for preventing attacks rather than building a stable democracy might suggest public support for a scaled-back U.S. strategy. However, several recent polls cast some doubt on that inference. Eighty-one percent of respondents trust the military to make the right recommendations about U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan, as opposed to 50 percent who trusted President Obama in the October Quinnipiac University poll. Fox News and Opinion Dynamics found similar results. Sixty-six percent trust U.S. military commanders to decide the next step in Afghanistan, as opposed to 20 percent who trust the president. This comes as General Stanley McChrystal has been making the case for increasing troop levels and focusing on the overall stability of the Afghan government.
An interesting October AP/GFK question links the stability of Afghanistan with preventing terrorism in the long run. When asked if the United States should be stabilizing the country so that terrorists cannot use it as a haven over the longer term, or if the United States should eliminate existing terrorists first, more Americans decided that focusing on stability and the longer term should be the primary focus of the U.S. mission in Afghanistan. Granted, the preference was by a slim margin (49 percent favoring stability to 45 percent favoring eliminating existing threats), but the poll suggests that Americans are willing to pursue the strategy that best eliminates the terrorist threat from Afghanistan. If supporters of General McChrystal can make the case that the stability of the country is necessary for the elimination of terrorists, then the American public may support such efforts.