TORONTO, Oct 19 (Reuters) - A majority of Afghans support the presence of NATO-led troops and want them to remain in the country to fight the Taliban, a poll conducted for Canadian media said on Friday.

The survey, conducted by Environics for the Globe and Mail and La Presse newspapers and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp, showed that 60 percent of respondents supported having foreign troops in their country, 16 percent opposed, and 22 percent said it was equally good and bad.

In Kandahar, where 2,500 Canadian troops are based, 61 percent supported the foreign presence, while 23 percent were opposed.

Overall, 43 percent of respondents wanted foreign troops to stay as long as it takes to defeat the Taliban, and 14 percent said they should leave immediately.

In the middle ground, 11 percent said foreign troops should leave within a year, and 27 percent said they should stay from two to five years.

Earlier this week, the Canadian government said it wants its troops to stay in Afghanistan until 2011, two years longer than the planned pullout in 2009. It has promised a vote in Parliament on any extension.

Seventy-one Canadian soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan, the third biggest death toll among NATO countries. Thirty-seven foreign countries have personnel stationed in Afghanistan.

In Kandahar, in a region in which the Taliban is active, 32 percent said the soldiers should leave within the year, while 18 percent said they should stay between two and five years, and 31 percent said they should stay for as long as it takes.

Overall, 60 percent of the Afghans felt they were better off now than they were five years ago, with 73 percent saying that women fare far better today.

Although Canada ranked well when the respondents were asked which countries were present in Afghanistan, very few were aware that Canadian troops were actually involved in fighting the Taliban.

The poll, which was conducted between Sept. 17 and Sept. 24, was the first done by a Canadian organization in Afghanistan and the first that included questions on the Canadian effort, according to Keith Neuman, group vice-president at Environics.

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