Military intervention in foreign countries has “gone downhill in polls quickly,” despite most Americans saying they want to maintain a military presence in certain countries, including Afghanistan, Defense One reports.
“If you look at popular opinion traditionally, support or lack of support for a war has been related to: what are the costs, financially and in terms of casualties, and what is the perceived progress or lack thereof toward a particular objective that is stated?” said Richard Fontaine, the president of the Center for a New American Security, which announced the results of the Chicago Council’s annual survey of Americans on their thoughts on foreign-policy.
Ivo Daalder, the president of the Chicago Council and the former U.S. ambassador to NATO, added that typically in most national security circles being against the war in Afghanistan is seen as being against the military in general.
“This poll says something completely different,” he said. “It says that, in fact, the way you make America safe is the traditional way you make America safe, which is: U.S. military superiority, strong alliances, basing forces overseas, being willing to defend your allies when they are attacked. All of those, there is — 50, 60, 70, 80 percent of Americans support that.”
“What there’s no support for is military intervention to resolve conflicts,” Daalder added. “Yes, to defending allies. Yes, to being there. Yes, to being strong, believing in deterrence. But no to the kind of interventionism that we’ve had in the past, sort of, 25 years. That’s where the distinction lies.”
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