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Survey: Americans view Taliban takeover of Afghanistan as a threat to Israel

The HarrisX Overnight Poll of American voters found that more than two-thirds of respondents see the terror group as a threat to the Jewish state

Mir Ahmad Firooz Mashoof/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Taliban patrol in Herat city after took control in Herat, Afghanistan, on August 18, 2021 as Taliban take control of Afghanistan after 20 years.

More than two-thirds of Americans see the Taliban’s advances in Afghanistan as potentially endangering to Israel, according to a survey from an Israel on Campus Coalition/HarrisX Overnight Poll obtained by Jewish Insider.

The poll of 974 registered voters found that 72% of respondents — including a majority of Democrats, Republicans and Independents — consider the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan to be a threat to the Jewish state.

A plurality of Democrats (46%) and Independents (49%), and a majority of Republicans, said that Hamas’s recognition of the Taliban was a cause for concern, and that Israel should be more aggressive in confronting the current situation in the Gaza Strip. Sixteen percent of Democrats did not see Hamas’s recognition of the group as concerning.

A majority of respondents across the political spectrum — 73% of Republicans, 59% of Democrats and 51% of Independents — believe that the current situation in Afghanistan makes it more important for the U.S. to support Israel.

Nearly two-thirds (64%) of respondents said that the U.S. should refuse to engage with the Taliban following the group’s takeover of Afghanistan, which the fundamentalist group controlled from 1996-2001. Forty-five percent assigned blame for the current situation in Afghanistan to that country’s leaders, while 32% believe President Joe Biden bears responsibility and 17% blame former President Donald Trump. 

Forty-six percent of respondents said that any Afghans who supported U.S. troops in the country should be given refugee visas, while a quarter think no one should be issued the visa. The survey also found that a plurality of respondents (39%) believe the U.S. should give out less than 50,000 visas to individuals attempting to leave the country, while 20% believe the U.S. should issue between 50,000-100,000 visas.

The poll was conducted from August 17-18 for the Israel on Campus Coalition from the HarrisX Overnight Poll, and has a margin of error of 3.14%.

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