What the numbers say about progress in Afghanistan

[unhappycamper]

What the numbers say about progress in Afghanistan
By:
CNN National Security Supervising Producer Adam Levine

Washington (CNN) – American support for the war in Afghanistan has never been lower, according to the latest CNN polling. The low numbers just the latest figure in the complex math being calculated to determine how the US should proceed in the ten year war.

The latest poll from CNN and Opinion Research Corporation found only 37% of all Americans favor the war, 52% say the war in Afghanistan has turned into a Vietnam.

Those numbers are going down as US commitment to the war is going up, significantly. 30,000 more troops added this year. At the time the troop increase was announced, military leaders were aware it would mean a rise in troop casualties and were vocal in trying to warn Americans that it would happen.

Still the daily headlines about troop deaths is staggering. 16 NATO troops have been killed in the last three days. The US has lost 386 troops so far this year.

~snip~

But for all the investment of lives and money, the war is not registering with Americans. At least not while the numbers in everyone's bank accounts are a preoccupation. In a September poll by CNN and Opinion Research, only 9% of respondents thought the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were the most important problem facing the country, 49% thought the economy mattered most.



unhappycamper comment: The only progress (no quotation marks) that we are making in Afghanistan each and every day is emptying out the United States treasury. To the tune of $200 grand a minute.

[Radical Activist]

1. They leave out the biggest reasons.

This is good news, but I don't think CNN wants to touch the reasons why.

1) Republicans feel free to oppose it now that Bush is out of office and it's "Obama's war." So does the media.

2) Obama doesn't promote the war the way Bush did. Yes, he has made statements to defend the escalation. But, he doesn't engage in fear-mongering the way Bush did. He isn't on a campaign to constantly talk about and promote the war the way Bush did. Support for any foreign war will drop if there isn't a President working hard to promote it. Obama knows this.

Support for continuing the war will be politically untenable in 2012 if Obama continues to weakly defend it as something we have to do before leaving as soon as we can. It's probably parts of his strategy for ending it.