Washington, Oct 20 (Inditop.com) A slight majority of Americans think that the war in Afghanistan is turning into another Vietnam, according to a new national poll that also indicates nearly six in 10 oppose sending more US troops to the conflict zone.
Fifty-two percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday say the eight year long conflict has turned into a situation like the US faced in the Vietnam War, with 46 percent disagreeing.
According to the poll, 59 percent of people questioned opposed sending more US troops to Afghanistan with 39 percent in favour. Of the 59 percent opposed, 28 percent want Washington to withdraw all US troops, 21 percent are calling for a partial American pullout, and 8 percent say the number of troops should remain the same.
“Has Afghanistan turned into Barack Obama’s Vietnam? Most Americans think so, and that may be one reason why they oppose sending more US troops to that country,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.
“Older Americans are most likely to see parallels between Afghanistan and Vietnam – possibly because they remember the Vietnam War, rather than reading about it in textbooks.”
More than two-thirds of people polled say it’s unlikely Afghanistan will have stable government in the next few years.
According to the survey, around two-thirds also feel that its unlikely that without American assistance, the Afghan military and police will be able to keep their country safe and secure or prevent terrorists from using Afghanistan as a base of operations for planning attacks against the US.
The poll indicates that six in 10 Americans feel it’s necessary to keep US forces in Afghanistan in order to prevent terrorist attacks on the United States.
And a similar number say the conflict in Afghanistan is part of the war against terrorism which began with the 9/11 attacks in 2001.
The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll was conducted Friday through Sunday, with 1,038 adult Americans questioned by telephone. The survey’s sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
