3 in 4 say removal of US troops from Afghanistan has gone badly: poll

Roughly three-quarters of Americans say they believe the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan was executed badly, according to a CBS News – YouGov poll released on Sunday.

When asked how they felt the U.S. removal from Afghanistan has gone, 44 percent said “very badly” and 30 percent said “somewhat badly.”

Two out of three participants in the survey said they did not think President Biden has a clear plan for evacuating Americans out of Afghanistan. Sixty-two percent of participants said Biden had some or a lot of responsibility for the Taliban taking control of Afghanistan while 50 percent said the same for former President Trump.

The same poll found that Biden had an evenly split approval rating, with 50 percent approving and 50 percent disapproving of his job performance.

The Afghan government received the highest level of responsibility for its downfall, with 86 percent saying it was responsible for being taken over by the Taliban.

When asked how they believed the threat level to the U.S. would change now that the Taliban is in power, 60 percent said they believed it would increase and 36 percent said they believed it will stay the same. The majority of participants said the U.S. is not doing enough for Afghans attempting to flee the Taliban.

The CBS News – YouGov poll was conducted from August 18 to 20 and included 2,142 adults in the U.S. The results have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points.

Biden has received widespread backlash from lawmakers on both side the aisle for the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Some GOP lawmakers like Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) and Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) have called on the U.S. to maintain a continued presence in Afghanistan to counteract terrorism that may arise in the country.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan under the Obama administration Ryan Crocker said in an interview last week that the situation in Afghanistan has led him to question Biden’s ability to lead, though he attributed the state of the country to both Biden and Trump.