NEW YORK: Doubts are growing in the US over the prospect of a protracted conflict in Afghanistan along with concerns over the Bush government’s handling of the bio-terrorist threat at home, a survey has found.

The poll for the Washington Post newspaper found that support for George Bush and the war on terrorism has become more qualified and more partisan as the public’s impulse to rally and support the president has been tempered by the likelihood of casualties in a shooting war.

But it found that the overwhelming majority of Americans continue to back Bush and the war in Afghanistan. His overall job approval rating stands at 89 per cent, a figure that has remained unchanged in the months since the bombing of Afghanistan began. Nine out of ten Americans support the war there.

Two-thirds of those interviewed said they “strongly approve” of the way Bush is handling his job as president but that marks a decline of 11 points over the month.

The majority of that decline can be accounted for by eroding support among Democrats. About half of those Democrats — around 49 per cent — strongly approved of the job Bush is doing, but that figure is down 17 points from early October.

The poll found that seven in 10 Americans support sending a “significant number” of US ground troops into Afghanistan. That support declines to just 52 per cent when participants are asked to consider if the possibility of sending ground troops in would result in a long and protracted war, and could leave many US troops dead and injured.

Asked: “Would you support or oppose sending a significant number of US ground troops into Afghanistan if it meant getting into a long war with large number of US troops killed or injured?”, 52 per cent said they would, 42 per cent said they opposed that action and 6 per cent did not know.

The results mark a dramatic shift from the days immediately after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, when a Washington Post poll found that strong majorities of all political persuasions were ready to wage a major war with “groups or nations responsible for these attacks”. —Dawn/The Guardian News Service.