British Public Split on Afghanistan Troop Withdrawals

New polling from Ipsos Mori provides insights into how the public see the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.

The pollsters questioned a representative online sample of 1,970 British adults aged 18-75 between 16th-17th August 2021.

The key headline shows how split the public are with 39% saying that withdrawing British troops from Afghanistan was the right thing to do compared to 40% who said it was the wrong thing. Attitudes change however when it comes to the withdrawal of US troops, with 47% saying it was wrong for them to pull out and 31% saying it was right for them to leave the country.

Looking to the future, 22% said they would support military intervention in the event of the Taliban committing widespread human rights abuses or allowing extremist groups to operate in the country. Ipsos Mori notes that “the most popular options are diplomatic/economic interventions (34%) and humanitarian interventions (32%), with the a third  agreeing with each  of these options.”

52% of respondents felt that the British military efforts had not proved effective in bringing stability to Afghanistan with 34% saying it had been effective.

On the core objective of the mission, Ipsos Mori goes on to say: “The public also remain split on whether the military campaign was successful in preventing Afghanistan from being used as a base for terrorists to attack British interests. Two in five (42%) think it was effective, whilst another two-fifths (41%) say it wasn’t – this compares to 41% (effective) and 49% (ineffective) in 2015.”

Meanwhile, polling by YouGov for The Times finds that  52% of the public would support a resettlement scheme for Afghan refugees fleeing the Taliban with 29% opposing it and 20% saying they are unsure.  

When it comes to numbers, 28% of those saying they back a resettlement plan think the UK should take “a few tens of thousands” of refugees. Another 26% said the UK should accept “a few thousand”. 13% said “hundreds of thousands” should be rehomed in the UK.

YouGov goes on to note that 48% of people agreed that the UK has a moral obligation to offer asylum to Afghan refugees with 36% saying it does not.

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