A majority of respondents disagree with extending the training mission beyond its 2014 deadline.
Most Canadians are in favour of their government’s decision to keep soldiers in Afghanistan to help train the local military, but many also believe this mission should not be extended beyond 2014, a new Angus Reid Public Opinion poll has found.
In the online survey of a representative national sample of 1,001 Canadian adults, 40 per cent of respondents believe Canada made a mistake in sending military forces to Afghanistan in 2002, while 36 per cent think Canada did the right thing.
The federal government’s decision to keep 950 soldiers in Afghanistan until 2014 in a strictly non-combat role to help train the Afghan military is endorsed by a majority of Canadians (54%), including two thirds of respondents in British Columbia and Alberta (66%).
However, about three-in-five respondents (58%) disagree with extending Canada’s non-combat role after 2014.
Across Canada, two thirds of respondents (65%) disagree with the assertion that Afghanistan will never again become a safe haven for international terrorism, and a similar proportion (69%) believe the war in Afghanistan was not worth the human and financial toll.
Quebecers are more likely to call the mission in Afghanistan a mistake (52%), to disagree with an extension of Canada’s non-combat role (67%), and to state that the war was not worth the human and financial toll (77%).
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Methodology: From January 27 to January 28, 2012, Angus Reid Public Opinion conducted an online survey among 1,001 randomly selected Canadian adults who are Angus Reid Forum panellists. The margin of error—which measures sampling variability—is +/- 3.1%, 19 times out of 20. The results have been statistically weighted according to the most current education, age, gender and region Census data to ensure a sample representative of the entire adult population of Canada. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.