Focus Shifts to Afghanistan After Announcement of Troop Reduction in Iraq

President Bush announced yesterday that he will authorize a withdrawal of 8,000 U.S. troops in Iraq in early 2009, but he also said he would send 4,500 additional troops to Afghanistan. The Washington Post covers the reaction from both Senators Obama and McCain on the renewed focus on Afghanistan, where casualties among coalition troops have, in recent months, begun to outpace those in Iraq.

Our last edition of the Confidence in U.S. Foreign Policy Index indicated a significant lack of public confidence in U.S. efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. And keep in mind that Afghanistan has gotten significantly less media coverage than Iraq. While 31 percent gave the U.S. "A" or "B" grades for "succeeding in meeting our objectives in Iraq," 28 percent gave the same grades for the U.S. effort in Afghanistan -- and that's a 12-point drop since we first asked the question in 2005. Just 15 percent said the United States can do "a lot" about creating a stable Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, a July Gallup poll showed more than half of Americans in favor of moving U.S. troops from Iraq to Afghanistan in order to fight al Qaeda and Taliban terrorist operations. Read more of Gallup's coverage of this topic here, and be sure to check out our "Iraq and Beyond" Voter's Survival Kit to get the big picture, with differing points of view and potential tradeoffs -- and of course, free of any bias.