Majority of U.S. public favors Afghanistan troop withdrawal; Biden criticized for his handling of situation

With the U.S. military evacuation of Afghanistan completed – bringing America’s longest war to an end – 54% of U.S. adults say the decision to withdraw troops from the country was the right one, while 42% say it was wrong, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted Aug. 23-29.

The survey, conducted before the U.S. military pullout was completed, also finds that 69% of the public says the United States mostly failed in achieving its goals in Afghanistan.

The public is also broadly critical of the Biden administration’s handling of the situation in Afghanistan: Only about a quarter (26%) say the administration has done an excellent or good job; 29% say the administration has done an only fair job and 42% say it has done a poor job.

Just 7% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents rate the administration’s performance on Afghanistan positively, and fewer than half of Democrats and Democratic leaners (43%) say it has done an excellent or good job.

The survey was conducted as the U.S. was engaged in a massive evacuation effort to bring Americans and Afghan allies of the U.S. out of Afghanistan. Most of the survey was conducted before the Aug. 26 suicide bombing at Kabul’s international airport that killed as many as 169 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members. (The survey finds little overall change in attitudes before and after the suicide attack.)