For almost a decade, a majority of Danes have supported Denmark’s efforts in Afghanistan, but there seems to be a change in attitude on whether troops should continue to be stationed there.

In April 2008 and February 2009, 48 percent of Danes supported Danish troops being stationed in Afghanistan, but in August 2010 that support has dropped to 32 percent, according to an Epinion poll for DR.

On the other hand, there is a clear increase in the number of those against. In April 2008 and February 2009, 41 percent were against posting Danish soldiers to Afghanistan. In August 2010 that number has risen to 55 percent.

At the same time, the number of Danes who say the Afghan war cannot be won, has risen to 69 percent, according to Epinion. In March this year, Denmark’s Defence Minister Gitte Lillelund Bech was quoted by Berlingske Tidende as saying that the coalition had victory against the Taleban within reach.

Socialist People’s Party Defence Spokesman Holger K. Nielsen says that Danes have begun to see how hopeless the war in Afghanistan is.

“Danes can now see that this war cannot be won. The Danes can see that we are on a mission that costs many Danish soldiers their lives and that it is not reasonable that young Danish men should fall in a war that is impossible to win. As a result, attitudes to the war in Afghanistan have changed,” Nielsen says.

The Danish People’s Party Foreign Policy Spokesman Søren Espersen says it is not surprising that Danes have lost faith in being able to win the war when the Danish government and NATO won’t let soldiers use their military materiel.

“The other day, the government rejected the idea of sending our F-16s, our excellent air force, to Afghanistan. For no reason at all, we feel. If we worked harder in a military fashion, instead of using a lot of energy on believing that we can buy the Afghans to be friendly towards us, that war would quickly be over. The government and NATO are simply waging war in the wrong way,” says Espersen.