Summary
BERLIN Rising casualties in Afghanistan are raising doubts among U.S. allies about the conduct of the war, forcing some governments to defend publicly their commitments and foreshadowing possible long- term trouble for the U.S. effort to bring in more resources to defeat the Taliban. Pressure from the public and opposition politicians is growing as soldiers bodies return home, and a poll released Thursday shows majorities in Britain, Germany and Canada oppose increasing their own troop levels in Afghanistan. Europeans and Canadians are growing weary of the war or at least their involvement in combat operations even as President Barack Obama is shifting military resources to Afghanistan away from Iraq. The United States, which runs the NATO-led force, has about 59,000 troops in Afghanistan nearly double the number a year ago and thousands more are on the way. There are about 32,000 other international troops currently in the country. The new U.S. emphasis on Afghanistan has raised the level of fighting and in turn, the number of casualties. July is already the deadliest month of the war for both U.S. and NATO forces with 63 international troops killed, including 35 Americans and 19 Britons. Most have been killed in southern Afghanistan, scene of major operations against Taliban fighters in areas that had long been sanctuaries. The leaders of the largest contributors to the coalition find themselves having to justify both their reasons for deploying troops and their management of the war effort. Britain, Italy and Australia are among those adding forces ahead of Afghanistans Aug. 20 presidential election. The surge in casualties has set off a heated debate in Britain about troop levels and the conduct of the war. A 24-nation poll on global attitudes to Obamas policies by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center found that only about half of the British respondents favored withdrawing from Afghanistan altogether. The Pew poll showed that 57 percent of American respondents favored keeping U.S. troops in Afghanistan while 38 percent said they should be withdrawn. An AP- GfK poll found very different results, however, with 44 percent favoring the war and 53 percent opposed; the survey was conducted July 16-20 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
Stronger still is Canadian opposition to their deployment of 2,500 soldiers in Kandahar province, the Taliban heartland. Forty- three percent of Canadians favored remaining in Afghanistan while 50 percent supported withdrawing. In Germany, virtually all mainstream politicians still support the deployment of 4,000 troops in Afghanistans relatively quiet northern regions. But government officials have frequently found themselves on the defensive in the face of polls finding that a majority of Germans oppose their involvement in combat missions. Since they deployed in 2002, 35 Germans have been killed, including three men who died June 23 when their armored vehicle crashed into a stream near Kunduz after being attacked by insurgents. In addition to pouring thousands more troops into Afghanistan, the Obama administration is in the midst of a strategy reassessment, trying to shift more work to civilian authorities and protect Afghan civilians. Vice President Joe Biden warned in an interview broadcast Thursday that international casualties can be expected to climb, but in terms of national interest of Great Britain, the U.S. and Europe, (the war) is worth the effort we are making and the sacrifice that is being felt. But Defense Secretary Robert Gates has acknowledged that the new strategy must show results in 18 months to two years or the administration will risk losing public support.See the full content of this document
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Death Rate Raises Doubts About War
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