American confidence in the handling of the war in Afghanistan has begun to falter, according to an opinion poll published today.
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A relative looks after a boy wounded by US bombs after an air raid in the Afghan capital yesterday
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The finding came as questions over the war began to mount in Washington, with one prominent senator leading calls for a full-scale ground war to avoid the kind of tactical disaster Vietnam became.
The poll, for the New York Timesand CBS News, found confidence falling in the United States achieving its objectives of capturing or killing Osama bin Laden, keeping together an international coalition and protecting America from further attacks.
The poll found the percentage of people "very confident" that bin Laden would be caught or killed was down from 38 per cent in an October 8th poll to 28 per cent today, while those either "not too confident" or "not at all confident" had risen from 21 to 27 per cent.
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There were also signs of mounting concern over the war, with 58 per cent of people saying it was going "somewhat well", 13 per cent it was going badly, and just 25 per cent saying it was going "very well".
But support for the war was still overwhelming, with 88 per cent of people approving of the military action, and 61 per cent saying it would still be worthwhile, even if it came at the cost of "several thousand" soldiers dying.
There was also a slip in confidence that America can keep its international coalition together, with 29 per cent of people having a "great deal" of confidence, down from 46 per cent in late September, and 13 per cent having "none" or "not much", up from 7 per cent.
A growing number believe it is "very likely" that there will be more terror attacks, with 53 per cent backing the view, up from 46 per cent on October 8th and 36 per cent a month ago, while the number not concerned fell from 20 per cent in late September to 10 per cent now.
PA