Poll: 43 percent say Afghan war 'mistake'

PRINCETON, N.J., Aug. 3 (UPI) -- The percentage of Americans who say sending troops to Afghanistan was a mistake rose after Pentagon documents on the war were leaked, a Gallup Poll indicated.

Forty-three percent of survey respondents now call the Afghanistan war a mistake, compare to 38 percent who said they had that sentiment before the tens of thousands of classified documents were published by WikiLeaks.org, results released Tuesday indicated.

The documents revealed ongoing struggles the U.S. military has faced in Afghanistan as it tries to weaken terrorist elements in the region. But the documents' release alone hasn't seemed to alter already-pessimistic assessments of U.S. progress in the war, the Princeton, N.J., polling agency said.

Fifty-three percent of those asked said they were following news about the leaked documents either "very closely," 16 percent, or "somewhat closely," 37 percent, results indicated.

Sixty-six percent said the leaked documents should not have been published, while 25 percent said they believed the Web site was right, results indicated.

The poll also revealed a decline in President Obama's approval rating for handling the war in Afghanistan, falling to 36 percent from 48 percent in February.

Results are based on nationwide telephone interviews of 1,208 adults conducted July 27-Aug. 1. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.