Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Canadians Want Different Afghan Mission

One in five Canadians strongly supports "the mission" in Afghanistan. Polling, however, suggests that can jump to one in two if Canada changes the focus of the effort to shift away from security/combat and into diplomacy and human rights efforts.

The Toronto Star reports that Canadians polled became much more enthusiastic about the mission when told of the non-military aspects.

...almost half of all respondents registered their strong support, when those surveyed were told about Canada's diplomacy and development efforts, such as ensuring human rights for women and supporting democratic institutions.

Combined with those who said they "somewhat" backed a mission that is balanced between combat and aid, support topped out at 83 per cent, compared with 44 per cent who supported the mission without being prompted about the development work that is being done.


"Support (for the mission) increased significantly after hearing more about Canada's role," says a summary of the findings by pollster Ipsos Reid.

What's not clear is just what the respondents were told about the mission's non-military aspects and the actual conditions on the ground in Afghanistan.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

and wont the Taliban be happy to hear that as they continue to surround the cities as they did against the Russians.
Visions come to mind of the women and children, families of the British who were slaughtered the day the Afghan's wiped out 80,000 of them.
Sure. What the hell. Let's continue the delusion on a mass scale. Either that or tell the truth, that Afghanisnam is a fiasco and another American turd on mother earth, leave and let the Afghans tend to themselves. We really don't need to cure anything and help can become genuine when we're asked by the Afghans, not pustulent warts like George Bush.