http://www.stripes.com/polopoly_fs/1.111360.1279360168!/image/3698501709.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_400/3698501709.jpgNATO not winning Afghan hearts and minds: pollBy Adrian Croft
LONDON | Sat Jul 17, 2010 1:01am EDT
LONDON (Reuters) - NATO is failing to win hearts and minds in Afghanistan, according to a poll released on Friday showing most people in Taliban heartlands view foreign troops negatively and believe the Taliban should join the government.
However, 55 percent of Afghans surveyed by the International Council on Security and Development (ICOS) think-tank believed NATO and the Afghan government were winning the war against Taliban insurgents.
The survey was based on interviews last month with 552 Afghan men in Kandahar and Helmand provinces in southern Afghanistan, the scene of some of the most intense fighting.
"We are ... failing to explain ourselves or our objectives to the Afghan people. This provides clear opportunities for Taliban and al Qaeda propaganda against the West," ICOS President Norine MacDonald said in a statement.
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In a blow to NATO's hopes of gradually transferring security responsibilities to Afghan forces, 71 percent believed the Taliban would return to areas cleared of insurgents if NATO departed leaving the Afghan government in charge.