{"id":8781,"date":"2021-08-31T12:59:51","date_gmt":"2021-08-31T17:59:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/majority-of-u-s-public-favors-afghanistan-troop-withdrawal-biden-criticized-for-his-handling-of-situation\/"},"modified":"2025-04-23T23:56:40","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T03:56:40","slug":"majority-of-u-s-public-favors-afghanistan-troop-withdrawal-biden-criticized-for-his-handling-of-situation","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2021\/08\/31\/majority-of-u-s-public-favors-afghanistan-troop-withdrawal-biden-criticized-for-his-handling-of-situation\/","title":{"rendered":"Majority of U.S. public favors Afghanistan troop withdrawal; Biden criticized for his handling of situation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Evacuees
Evacuees line up to board a C-17 aircraft in support of the Afghanistan evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport on Aug. 21, 2021, in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Taylor Crul\/U.S. Air Force via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

With the U.S. military evacuation of Afghanistan completed \u2013 bringing America’s longest war to an end \u2013 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The public is also broadly critical of the Biden administration\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just 7% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents rate the administration\u2019s performance on Afghanistan positively, and fewer than half of Democrats and Democratic leaners (43%) say it has done an excellent or good job.<\/p>\n\n\n

How we did this<\/div>