Poll: Canadians want to exit Afghanistan

OTTAWA, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Four of five Canadians say the country's troops should leave Afghanistan next year, a new poll indicates.

"These numbers are very indicative of a public that is now, in their minds, out of Afghanistan. They've made a conscious decision as a nation that we are exiting," John Wright, an Ipsos Reid senior vice president, told Postmedia on Wednesday.

"This is the first time we've seen very significant numbers saying we want to end the mission when it's supposed to end and ... we've done our job as a nation and let's move on to another agenda."

While almost 80 percent of those surveyed said they believe the mission should end next year, the original target date, about 30 percent said they would back allowing some Canadian troops to remain to train Afghan security forces. An overwhelming majority said they are proud of the Canadian military.

Canada has had troops in Afghanistan for eight years, and its contingent now numbers 2,500.

Ipsos Reid conducted the poll for Postmedia News and interviewed 1,608 adults between Friday and Wednesday. The margin of error is 2.5 percentage points.