Majority of Americans say US did not achieve its goals in Afghanistan

A majority of people in the United States believes the US mostly failed in achieving its goals in Afghanistan, according to a survey released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center.

There was hardly any difference between supporters of US President Joe Biden's Democrats at 69 per cent and supporters of the Republicans at 70 per cent.

Clear differences emerged in the assessment of the complete withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan: 70 per cent of Democrats supported it, but only 34 per cent of the Republicans.

The US military has withdrawn its last troops from Afghanistan, ending the country's longest war. A total of 54 per cent of US adults say the decision to withdraw troops from the country was the right one, while 42 per cent say it was wrong.

The Pew survey of 10,348 adults was conducted between August 23 and 29, before the US pull-out was complete.

Deadline extended

Biden's predecessor, Republican president Donald Trump, wanted to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan on May 1. Biden extended the deadline to August 31.

The militant Islamic Taliban, whose regime a US-led operation had overthrown in late 2001, took power again in mid-August.

With the withdrawal of the last US soldiers from Kabul airport, the international Afghanistan mission came to an end Monday after almost 20 years.