Poll Shows US Split over Afghanistan

• Source: CRI English.com
• [11:47 November 12 2009]
• Comments

Americans were split over whether US President Barack Obama was taking too long to decide on whether to send more US troops to Afghanistan, according to a new survey on Wednesday.

The latest CNN Opinion Research Corporation survey indicated that 50 percent of respondents didn't think the president was taking too long to decide whether to increase US troop levels in Afghanistan, while 49 percent thought the opposite.

It also showed that by a narrow margin, 52 to 48 percent, Americans thought that in making his decision, the president should listen to the recommendations of the generals in charge of US troops in Afghanistan rather than taking other matters into account.

The poll was released just hours before Obama's final meeting with his national security advisers to discuss his options in Afghanistan.

Media reports said though the options were not being spelled out, one of them was fairly well-defined, which called for sending about 34,000 US troops to Afghanistan.