New AP poll finds two-thirds don’t think Afghanistan War was worth fighting

A new poll from The Associated Press finds nearly two-thirds of Americans do not believe the Afghanistan War, the longest in U.S. history, was worth fighting.

Sixty-two percent of Americans believe the Afghanistan War was not worth fighting, an opinion shared by a majority of Democrats and Republicans, according to The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll.

The negative numbers come as the world watches the Taliban take over Afghanistan, with ugly and chaotic scenes playing out at Kabul’s airport as thousands seek to flee the country. 

The exit has put a nasty blemish on President Biden’s first year in office, with the White House defending the administration’s actions against criticism from both parties.

Sixty-seven percent of Democrats in the new poll say they do not think the war was worth fighting, compared to 57 percent of Republicans. The poll was taken from Aug. 12 to Aug. 16, when the Taliban quickly took over the country and captured Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital.

The AP-NORC poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points and surveyed 1,729 U.S. adults.

The AP poll also found majorities do not believe the Iraq War, which started after the Afghanistan invasion, was worth fighting.

The poll did find many Americans are worried about the threat of terrorism, which is what launched both conflicts. The U.S. invaded Afghanistan in 2001, just months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. 

The poll said about half of those surveyed are extremely or very concerned about the threat from foreign extremist groups. At the same time, the poll also found that about two-thirds of those polled are worried about extremist groups based in the United States.