Public support for war in Afghanistan is firm, despite deaths

The mounting number of casualties in Afghanistan has not led to increased public hostility to the war, according to a new ICM poll for the Guardian and the BBC's Newsnight.

Research carried out as news broke of the deaths of eight soldiers in 24 hours – taking the British death toll in Afghanistan past the total for Iraq – shows support for the war remains firm while backing for UK involvement in the conflict has grown.

People appear reluctant to turn against a conflict while soldiers are fighting and dying on the front line, and the increasingly high-profile nature of the war appears to be strengthening public backing.

Opposition to the war, at 47%, is just ahead of support, at 46%. And backing for Britain's role in the conflict has grown since 2006, the last time an ICM poll was conducted on the subject – up 15 points from 31%. Opposition has fallen over the same period by six points, from 53%.

The poll findings come as ministers are drawing up plans to devote more troops and resources to Afghanistan after dismissing repeated requests from defence chiefs for reinforcements. The shift in approach follows the rising death toll, outspoken criticism from opposition politicians, and the prospect of a long period of intense fighting against the Taliban.

Gordon Brown will update MPs tomorrow on the recent deaths in Afghanistan in a Commons statement on the G8 summit. The prime minister will confirm that the number of British troops is increasing to 9,000 from a base of 8,300. One favoured option, which has not been agreed, is for the number of troops to be kept at 9,000 after the next general election.

However, John Maples, the Tory deputy chairman, told the Guardian today: "Increasingly, people are starting to ask whether this war is winnable and whether our military objectives are sensible given the number of troops and the amount of equipment we are prepared to commit."

Lord Ashdown, the ex-Liberal Democrat leader who nearly became the UN special representative in Afghanistan last year, was scathing about British and US conduct. "The army were persuaded, for political reasons, to follow a Beau Geste strategy – putting our people out in forward forts largely because the politicians were persuaded by [Afghan president Hamid] Karzai that this was where his supporters and family lived. It led to a military error of major proportions. The army's job in a war is to find and kill the enemy."

After previously blocking requests by the chiefs of staff for 2,000 more troops to be deployed in southern Afghanistan, Gordon Brown has said in a letter to senior Commons committee chairmen: "We will of course continue to review our force levels based on the advice of commanders and discussions with our allies."

The Treasury has previously blocked the defence chiefs' request on the grounds of cost. However, the chancellor Alistair Darling said over the weekend: "If [British troops] need equipment, whatever it is, to support them in the frontline then of course the government, through the Treasury, is ready to help." He told the BBC: "You can't send troops into the frontline and not be prepared to see it through in terms of the … resources they need."

Significantly, given the government's past decisions to cap resources for Afghanistan, Darling added: "You've got to listen to what the chiefs of staff tell us."

Commanders on the ground have made no secret of the fact that they want more helicopters and more British troops. General Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the army, was reported yesterday to have told a private dinner of MPs that there were too few troops and helicopters available.

In an interview with the British Forces Broadcasting Service yesterday Brown paid tribute to the "sacrifice" of the 15 troops who had died since the start of the month – and eight in a 24 hour period – in the bloodiest fighting Britain has seen in the Afghan campaign. "I know that this has been a difficult summer – it is going to be a difficult summer," he said.

He said he had been assured in a lengthy briefing by commanders that the Operation Panther's Claw offensive to drive the Taliban from central Helmand province was making "considerable progress".

Bob Ainsworth, the defence secretary, said: "We are making progress. We are attacking the Taliban in one of their heartland areas. The reason they are standing and fighting is they know that what we are doing potentially hurts them seriously and strategically."

Today's poll findings show that 42% are in favour of the immediate withdrawal of British troops, and a further 14% want them home by the end of the year.

These figures are almost identical to the results when ICM last asked the question in 2006. A further 36% want troops to stay as long as they are needed, again a similar proportion to 2006, when British casualties were lower.