Half U.S. residents say country failed in Afghanistan, Iraq

WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 (UPI) —

Half of U.S. residents say the country has not achieved its goals in Iraq and Afghanistan, a view that holds across party lines, a poll Friday indicated.

The Pew Research Center poll found 37 percent of respondents said the United States had mostly succeeded in its goals in Iraq and 38 percent in Afghanistan. But 52 percent said the country had mostly failed in both places.

Among Republicans 51 percent see Iraq as a failure, a view shared by 54 percent of Democrats and 52 percent of independents. Views on Afghanistan are similar.

Pew asked voters in June 2011, soon after Osama bin Laden was killed, whether the United States would succeed in Afghanistan. At the time, 58 percent said it would.

In November, as the U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq was coming to an end, 56 percent of respondents to a poll said the United States had achieved its goals.

Princeton Data Source conducted the poll Jan. 15-19, surveying 1,504 adults by telephone. The margin of error for the entire sample is 2.9 percentage points.