Poll on Afghanistan indicates a disturbing trend among Americans

In a recent poll conducted by the Washington Post, 1000 adults in the US were randomly polled over the telephone. The subject was Afghanistan and the results of the poll are nothing short of disturbing. When asked if the US should focus more on economic development in Afghanistan or on defeating the Taliban militarily, 51% said militarily and 41% said economic development. Among those, 67% of Republicans said militarily and only 27% said economically. When asked if they would support or oppose the US negotiating with Taliban if Taliban agreed to suspend attacks, 41% supported negotiations and 53% opposed them. Of those, 71% of Republicans opposed them and only 24% supported negotiations. When asked if they thought the war was worth fighting in Afghanistan 56% said yes and 41% said no. Among those, 77% of Republicans said yes and only 20% said no.

What do these numbers indicate? It would be nice to believe it is simply ignorance or a lack of education, and maybe it is. After all even congressmen make decisions with very little information. In fact they do it everyday, why else would lobbying be so prominent and effective? Putting things in perspective, the poll was conducted on Americans randomly. It is not hard to imagine that the average American knows very little about Afghanistan and may not care to know more. With this is mind, indeed these polls would indicate lack of education on the subject and it’s not exactly a polling of people that understand the situation by any means.

However, a disturbing trend on this poll is the response of Republicans. 67% said use military as opposed to economic or reconstructions efforts. Do these people understand that US failure to launch reconstruction in Afghanistan after the defeat of the Russians has put the US back in Afghanistan today? Also, 71% of Republicans were opposed to negotiations with the Taliban. Opposition to negotiation can only mean that the Republicans want the Taliban dead, every single one of them. How else is the US going to deal with them if they don’t negotiate? Also, 77% of Republicans said the war was worth fighting. These numbers are pretty offensive but polling is not exactly scientific evidence and there is always room for error. Overall, this poll does indeed suggest a lack of education in the average American. Not to say that the average American is uneducated, but that the average American is not educated by any means about conflict resolution. Without being aware of the possibility of other ways to solve conflicts, Americans actually believe that war is necessary and quite frequently as the trend is showing. This is a sad indicator of a lack of education on foreign countries themselves and the alternative methods for solving conflicts. It’s not too hard to imagine this predicament since conflict resolution is neither taught in public schools nor is it supported by very many of the “educated” people that run our government.

For more information on the poll go here: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/behind-the-numbers/2009/03/post-abc_afghanistan.html