WASHINGTON — A new poll in Afghanistan shows sagging support for U.S. efforts in that country, with airstrikes a chief concern. A quarter of Afghans say attacks on American or allied forces are justifiable, double the proportion saying so in late 2006.
The poll, the fourth conducted by ABC News and other media partners in Afghanistan since 2005, also shows plummeting support for President Hamid Karzai and the Afghan government, and a sharp decline in the proportion who said the nation is heading in the right direction. The vast majority of people there consider public corruption to be a problem, and there are widespread complaints about the availability of jobs and electricity and concerns about prices.
But security concerns are what galvanize public opinion most directly. In the poll, the proportion of Afghans rating their security positively dipped to 55 percent from 72 percent in 2005, and views of the direction of the country declined in parallel. Seventy percent of those who said the nation is on the wrong track cited security as a central concern.
At the same time, ratings of U.S. forces have declined precipitously; 32 percent said the U.S. and coalition forces are performing well, down from 68 percent in 2005. And fewer than half, 42 percent, have confidence in coalition forces to provide security.
Most controversial are U.S. airstrikes and civilian casualties at the hands of coalition forces. One in five said coalition forces have killed civilians in their area in the past year.
About eight in 10 called those coalition airstrikes unacceptable, viewing the risk to innocent civilians as greater than the value of these raids in fighting the Taliban and other anti- government insurgents.
