Poll: Brits Say Afghan War "Unwinnable"

By: Tucker Reals
Topics: Afghanistan

(AP Photo/Sang Tan)

A majority of the British public believes the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan cannot be won and British troops should be withdrawn immediately, according to a poll commissioned by The Independent.

At left: British soldiers from the Welsh Guards carry the coffin of Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe into The Guards Chapel in the Wellington Barracks in London for a funeral service, July 16, 2009. Thorneloe was killed in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

According to the poll, carried out by ComRes for the newspaper, 58 percent of Britons say the war is "unwinnable," with 31 percent believing victory can be achieved.

Fifty-two percent of those asked said all British forces should be withdrawn from Afghanistan immediately.

The results reflect a public wearied by near-daily headlines of troop deaths, scandals over how well those troops have been equipped for battle, and a prime minister whose credibility has shrunken dramatically during the past several months.

On Monday, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who has been hit hard by party losses in several key local elections this summer, declared a British military operation to clear Taliban from southern Afghanistan a success.

Brown paid tribute to the 191 British soldiers who have died in Afghanistan since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion, acknowledging the "tragic human cost" of the war, but insisted the country's loss was not in vain. "What we have actually done is make land secure for about 100,000 people" in Helmand province, Brown argued.

One of the greatest margins for responses to a question in The Independent's poll occurred when the 1,008 telephone participants were asked whether they believed the Taliban could be defeated militarily. Almost two thirds said they could not.

It would seem that British, and possibly Afghan leaders, are starting to agree with that assessment.

Several of Brown's cabinet members have backed the idea of talking to and trying to win over more moderate members of the extremist Islamic militias in Afghanistan.

Speaking at a NATO summit in Brussels on Monday, Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Afghan leaders needed "grassroots initiatives" to provide former Taliban militants a way "to return to their villages and go back to farming the land or a role for some of them within the legitimate Afghan security forces."

Meanwhile, in a move which could signal a shift in the Afghan's strategy, President Hamid Karzai's government announced a deal Monday with Taliban militants in the remote Badghis region. Under the agreement, Afghan troops will not go after militants in the region if they refrain from attacks on politicians or polling places ahead of next months elections.

Tucker Reals
Tucker Reals is a senior news editor and overnight site editor for CBSNews.com, based at CBS News' London bureau.

16 Comments Have Your Say
Email Story Send to a Friend
Share This Tell Your Friends
Tweet This Tweet This
More Share It

Add a Comment

See all 16 Comments


by noorahmed1982 July 31, 2009 3:59 PM EDT: To the people who writes in this forum,

Well guise I am from South Asia, and I would like to contribute some of my opinion as well in this matter, so number one lets take a look in 9/11 incident that any independent investigation based on any where in the world including U.S and Britain does not justify that it has been done by muslim extremist, the investigation shows that it was an inside job or bla bla bla, number 2 U.S and Britain government got an ascused that Osama Bin Laden is the biggest terrorist and he's hiding in Afghanistan or Pakistan or bla bla bla so U.S and Britain invaded Afghanistan, the most funny part in this matter is Osama Bin Laden is not in the wanted list of your so called F.B.I right now, number three U.S and Britain invaded Iraq on the basis of so called WMD (weapons of mass destruction) which they believe Iraq have, but after seven years of invasion they (U.S and Britain) didnt even find a single WMD, so after seven years they got another ascuse, any how, number four U.S and Britain had accused taliban of drug trade, adding to alligance before invasion of Afghanistan drug trade was become less than 2% it was a U.N recognized figure after invaded afghanistan drug trade has gone to more than 150 billion dollars according to U.S Top officials.

Thanks; Reply to this comment


by Realorfake July 29, 2009 10:58 AM EDT: As long as you folks in 'big media' continue framing modern warfare with a 'win/lose' dialect, much like a basketball game, you will continue the propagation of age old ignorance which keeps 'killing other people' for stupid reasons a policy of practical sorts, for all governments.

The truth of modern warfare, in these days, is the only LOSERS are the DEAD PEOPLE, and the only WINNERS are the sub-humans who make their blood money off the DEAD PEOPLE, killed by other soon to be DEAD PEOPLE.

You in the 'big media' are a pack of bloodthirsty animals. You don't deserve the right to put your insane, antiquated horse pucky out there. You should be ashamed of yourselves for framing the deaths of hundreds of thousands, actually millions, with your retarded views of win or lose.; Reply to this comment


by wayneepalmer July 28, 2009 6:02 PM EDT: The really sick part of this is the entire insurgency against us, Pakistan, and India and the West is being paid for by the same, fat, greasy, dress-wearing, pork-conceived, dog-spawn, Gulf-area sheiks that funded 911, 311, Madrid, and almost every other attack against the West for the last 16 years AND NO ONE IS DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT.

They fund the Madrassa's around the world, the jihadi training camps, they have propaganda and legal teams in every Western Country that protect and promote their jihad against the West, intimidate moderate Moslems, and enforce their political correctness and victim-hood in every other civilized country on earth.

They pay to fill our Universities with anti-Western professors and see to it that history is altered and young minds are indoctrinated that the West is ruining the Earth whilst preparing the ground for their war against us. No one wants to challenge them because of their own oil and wealth and the power of Exxon Mobil over the governments.

Every soldier that dies is killed not merely by the hands of a Taliban but by bullets, bombs, and money from the Middle East. When we pull out, they will dance in the streets of the Arab world and the next fighting and dying will be in the streets of OUR cities and it will be our family members jumping from burning buildings and suffocating on blasted trains.

We are fighting in the wrong place and using the wrong weapons. We should be fighting the right war...it'll take less than an hour to finish, too.; Reply to this comment


by TNisgoodenoughforme July 28, 2009 4:47 PM EDT: Since this is the fist I've heard of that... Then I agree that is a good reason to be over there. with my son doing his small part (USMC)I like to understand why he's fighting. And let me be clear, it is me who needs/wants to understand not my son.
I just wish we could get it done fast.; Reply to this comment


by guyfrompa46 July 28, 2009 2:55 PM EDT: Taliban recruited children as bombers - This is just one of these reasons we're there for all you liberal idiots.; Reply to this comment


by TNisgoodenoughforme July 28, 2009 2:13 PM EDT: While I did understand the fight in Iraqi, I do not understand this one at all. I only see that we are there due to poppy. The farm it, sell it & make money to supply arms to themselves...or so the news says. In Iraqi people had been murdered & I was proud that we helped free them. I know many Kurds & they are thankful to all who have helped. But in this I agree with the Brits, we are not going to win, so let them all come home. I don't think Obama knows what he's doing over there at all.; Reply to this comment


by babooph July 28, 2009 10:32 AM EDT: England has one of those pseudo democracies that sell out their public ,just like........; Reply to this comment


by ffoulkes-2009 July 28, 2009 9:15 AM EDT: Gee...I thought we were there to get rid of the Taliban who was training allowing terrorists to train in their nation and helping them out. Now that we wiped them out, it is our duty to remain and help the fledgling democracy there to rebuild. That is how America has always done these things...We rebuild what we destroyed in order to defeat our enemies.; Reply to this comment


by guyfrompa46 July 28, 2009 8:58 AM EDT: John_Merritt - Come back and talk to me when you get a clue. Pay attention to what you read. They'll be a quiz.; Reply to this comment


by guyfrompa46 July 28, 2009 8:56 AM EDT: John_Merritt _ what a shock. just as I thought. You have an opinion on something that you have no information about.; Reply to this comment