Citing new polling data that shows widespread support by the American public for the peaceful, negotiated resolution of the chemical weapons crisis in Syria without having to bring the U.S. military into action, former Congressman Barney Frank made the case that public sentiment against further U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan is even stronger:
Every argument against a new involvement in Syria applies with even greater force to continuing to stay in Afghanistan. We're spending much, much more money. More people are being killed. It's more destabilizing.
Frank recommends that his like-minded former colleagues in Congress draft a resolution calling for an accelerated withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, targeting the end of 2013 instead of the end of 2014, and allow the will of the American public to propel that legislation into reality:
[L]et's push my former colleagues to vote on a resolution that says we will be out of Afghanistan as soon as practical, shooting for the end of this year, if it takes more time than that logistically, OK, to protect everybody's safety, but we should be building on that.And I believe, once members of Congress are confronted with that choice, they're going to hear from their constituents that they ought to make it.
A Washington Post/ABC News poll taken July 18-21, 2013 found support for the war in Afghanistan sinking to a new low, with only 28% believing the war in Afghanistan has been worth fighting, and 96% supporting the withdrawal of all or most of U.S. forces "within the year ahead."