The Asia Foundation released findings from its most recent public opinion poll in Afghanistan, which covers the largest population sample ever surveyed at one time in all 34 of Afghanistan’s provinces. “Afghanistan in 2007: A Survey of the Afghan People” follows polls conducted by the Foundation in 2004 and 2006. Collectively, the three surveys establish an accurate and long-term barometer of public opinion across Afghanistan to help assess the direction in which the country is moving in the post-Taliban era.

A copy of the 2007 survey is available for download by clicking here (PDF, 1MB).

The 2007 survey captures the Afghan public’s perceptions of reconstruction, security, governance, and poppy cultivation — as well as attitudes towards government and informal institutions, the role of women and Islam in society, and the impact of media. The fieldwork for the survey was conducted in June 2007, and consists of a random sample of 6,263 in-person interviews with Afghan men and women 18 years of age and above, from different social, economic, and ethnic communities in rural and urban areas in all 34 provinces of Afghanistan.

The survey report opens with findings on the overall national mood in Afghanistan in 2007, which states that 42 percent of Afghans think the country is headed in the right direction (compared to 44% in 2006, and 64% in 2004); 24 percent feel it is moving in the wrong direction (21% in 2006, 11% in 2004), and 25 percent have mixed feelings (29% in 2006, 8% in 2004).

The 2007 survey — which was funded through The Asia Foundation’s ongoing cooperative agreement with the U.S. Agency for International Development — was designed, directed, and edited by the Foundation, with all in-person interviews completed by 494 Afghan men and women employed by the Afghan Center for Socio-economic and Opinion Research (ACSOR) in Kabul. Similar surveys will be conducted in 2008, 2009, and 2010.