US troops in Afghanistan. Photo from cleveland.com

A bare majority of Americans support President Barack Obama’s plan to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, but many are sceptical that the United States can count on Afghanistan as a partner in the fight or that the escalation would reduce the chances of a domestic terrorist attack, the New York Times reports.

The New York Times/CBS News poll found a 10% increase in public approval of Obama’s handling of the war in Afghanistan since last month, to 48 per cent. But the shift reflects a twist on the political polarisation that has marked much of Obama’s first year in office: Republican and independent voters are rallying behind Obama as he presses for the troop escalation, while Democrats remain decidedly cool to his war plans.

The support for Obama’s Afghanistan policy is decidedly ambivalent, and the nation’s appetite for any intervention is limited. Over all, Americans support sending the troops in by 51 per cent to 43 per cent, while 55 per cent said setting a date to begin troop withdrawals was a bad idea.

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