Public opinion relating to the U.S. and Afghanistan can be divided into four categories: (1) Americans’ basic assessments of the 20-year U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan, (2) Americans’ views of the decision to completely withdraw U.S. troops at this point, (3) Americans’ views of the way in which the withdrawal was handled and (4) the longer-term political impact. …
Americans believe Biden did the right thing in withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Americans are as likely to view the whole 20-year experience in that country as a mistake as to say it was not, while recent polling shows the majority say involvement there was not worth it. But the extremely rapid movement of the Taliban to wrest back control of the country has left Americans with the perception that the withdrawal has not been handled well. CONTINUED
Frank Newport, Gallup
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