Poll: US, allies, Kabul government losing ground - AP

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

The handwriting is on the wall, but the politicians can't seem to read it.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090209/ap_on_re_as/us_afghans_2

WASHINGTON – Support for the Kabul government and the United States and European troops trying to bolster it against insurgents is plummeting among the Afghan people, a new poll reports.

The decline is striking particularly in the last year, the poll shows, even as the Obama administration and NATO allies weigh moves to strengthen forces in the struggle with Taliban and other radical groups.

President Barack Obama has assigned high priority to the conflict and the administration is weighing whether to send another 30,000 U.S. troops there, almost doubling the 32,000 present.

His election, however, does not appear to hold much promise among the Afghan people: Two in 10 think he will make things better for the Afghan people and nearly as many think he will make things worse. The rest either expect no change or are waiting to see.

On top of that decline, while 83 percent of Afghans expressed a favorable opinion of the United States in 2005, just 47 percent feel that way now.

There was an 18 percent drop this year alone, according to polling results.

Other negative findings include:

• While 68 percent of Afghans polled in 2005 credited the United States with a good performance, the new approval figure is just 32 percent, a drop of more than half.

• NATO, which is allied with the United States, has the support of only 37 percent of Afghans, the poll showed.

• As for the central government in Kabul, while 83 percent of Afghans approved of President Hamid Karzai and 80 percent of the government in 2005, when the polling began, that support has slid to 52 per cent for Karzai and 49 percent for the government.

• There is strong complaint about U.S. and NATO air strikes, with 79 percent of Afghans saying they are unacceptable, that the risk to civilians outweighs the value in fighting insurgents.