Acknowledgements
This survey is the result of a collaborative effort among several institutions and individuals. It was produced under
the overall guidance of The Asia Foundation’s Afghanistan Country Representative Mark Kryzer, Deputy Country
Representative Abdullah Ahmadzai and Survey Project Manager Habibullah Haidari. Special thanks to Asia
Foundation Program Directors Mohammad Osman Tariq, Fazel Rabi Haqbeen and Palwasha Lena Kakar for their
contributions as principal authors of the survey. We also acknowledge the hard work of assistant authors Abdul
Ghafor Asheq, Fazel Rabi Wardak and Habibullah Haidari, and staff who helped in the technical work of all
chapters including Bezhan Abdali, Lima Kohestani, Khatera Azizpoor, Yar Mohammad Sameem, Khushal Qeam
and Abdul Khalil Qaney. ACSOR fielded the survey enumerators. Sudhindra Sharma and Pawan Kumar Sen from
Inter Disciplinary Analysts (IDA) provided analytical support and guidance. Nancy Hopkins, an Asia Foundation
consultant, served as editor for the survey. Foundation staff from San Francisco and Washington, DC provided
critical support as well.
The Asia Foundation would like to thank the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Foreign
and Commonwealth Office/Department for International Development (FCO/DFID), Australian Agency for
International Development (AusAID) and German Foreign Affairs Ministry for making this important research and
capacity-building tool possible.
Nearly nine in 10 respondents (87%) agree that women and men should have equal educational opportunities,
including 48% who strongly agree. Two thirds of Afghans surveyed say they think women should be allowed
to work outside the home. Survey findings reveal a substantial difference between men and women’s attitudes
in this regard. Four fifths of female respondents (80%) say women should be allowed to work outside
the home compared to just over half (55%) of men who say so. Significantly more urban respondents agree
(81%) than their rural counterparts (61%).
on democracy
Eighty percent of respondents agree that the government should allow peaceful opposition, and 83% agree
that everyone should have equal rights under law, regardless of gender, ethnicity or religion.
When asked an open-ended question about what personal benefits they believe they will gain from democracy
in Afghanistan, 30% said peace, 29% said freedom and 20% said good security. Other popular responses were
rights and law (15%), Islamic democracy (14%), less corruption (13%), a government of the people (12%)
and more job opportunities (12%).
A majority of respondents (58%) say they think the 2010 parliamentary elections were free and fair, while
more than one third (37%) say they were not. There is large difference between rural and urban respondents;
sixty-one percent of rural respondents say that the past parliamentary elections were free and fair, while just
under half of urban respondents (45%) say they were.
Just over half of respondents (52%) say Afghanistan is moving in the right direction, up from 46% in 2011. People surveyed identify insecurity (including attacks, violence, and terrorism) (28%), unemployment (27%)
and corruption (25%) as the three biggest problems facing Afghanistan as a whole.
Three quarters (75%) of respondents give central government performance a positive assessment, including
15% who say it is doing a very good job and 60% who say it is doing a somewhat good job. Over time,
an increasing number of people report satisfaction with the way the central government is carrying out its
responsibilities. In several substantive areas, Afghans’ positive assessment of government performance is at
its highest point since 2010, including in education (89%), security provision (70%) and maintaining relations
with neighboring countries (55%).
The most commonly cited reasons for optimism are good security (41%) and reconstruction/rebuilding
(35%), followed by the opening of schools for girls (14%), improvement in the education system (13%), and
having an active Afghan National Army (ANA) and Afghan National Police (ANP) (13%). Insecurity (39%)
is the most commonly cited reason for pessimism. Security thus remains the most significant factor in shaping
Afghans’ assessment of progress in the country.
Survey findings show that Afghans’ support for peace and reconciliation remain very high in 2012, as it has
been in previous years. A large majority of respondents (81%) agree with the government’s national reconciliation
and negotiation efforts, with 38% strongly in favor. Although majority within all ethnic groups are in
favor of the government’s reconciliation efforts and negotiation with the armed opposition, a relatively higher
number of Pashtuns (85%) and Uzbeks (84%) are supportive of this endeavor. Support is relatively higher in
the East (91%), North East (86%) and South West (84%).
A majority of respondents say they have no sympathy at all (63%) with armed opposition groups in Afghanistan,
while 10% say they have a lot of sympathy and 20% say they have some level of sympathy. Over time,
there has been a decline in the number of people who sympathize (either a lot or little) with these armed
opposition groups that use violence. While the 2012 figures are fairly similar to 2011, there has been a noticeable
decline from 2011 to 2012 in the proportion of Afghans with no sympathy for armed opposition groups
in a few regions, including Central/Kabul (74% to 70%), the West (60% to 56%) and the South West (61%
to 55%). Among those who express a high level of sympathy toward the armed opposition groups, 34% say
it is because these groups are Afghans, while a similar proportion (33%) says it is because they are Muslims.
Over half of respondents (53%) reported that their families are more prosperous today than they were during
the Taliban era. Fewer than one third (31%) say they are less prosperous. A higher proportion of urban residents
(66%) than rural residents (49%) report that their families are more prosperous today, and more rural
residents (34%) than urban residents (22%) say that they are less prosperous.
Half of all respondents (50%) say their household financial wellbeing has improved during the past year, and half
(51%) say that access to schools has improved. When asked about their household health and quality of their
diet, roughly equal percentages say they have improved (42% and 41%, respectively) or stayed the same (46% for
each). More than half of respondents (51%) say the availability of products in the market and the condition of
their house/dwelling has stayed the same, and 14% say it is worse. Sizeable numbers of Afghans report that their
electricity supply (32%) and employment opportunities (28%) have gotten worse over the past year.
More than two thirds (70%) of respondents say the employment situation in their local area is quite bad or
very bad, suggesting that the government’s efforts to improve job availability have not yet borne fruit. Sixtytwo
percent are dissatisfied with the supply of electricity in their local area. At the same time, more than three
quarters of respondents (77%) report that availability of education is quite good or very good in their local
area, followed by clean drinking water (76%), the security situation (74%) and freedom of movement (72%).
Comparison of 2007 to 2012 data shows that, with the exception of the availability of jobs, the availability
of the rest of the services has generally improved since 2007/2008, with some fluctuation in between. The
greatest perceived improvement has been in the area of clean drinking water, for which satisfaction rose 14
percentage points from 2008 to 2012.
More than half of those surveyed are aware of development projects related to education (53%) and reconstruction/
building of roads and bridges (50%). Afghans have also noticed projects to improve the drinking
water supply (43%), deliver healthcare (38%), build mosques (29%) and improve the electricity supply (22%).
Generally, awareness about development projects is higher in the East, South West and South East than in the
Central/Hazarajat, Central/Kabul and North East regions.
Among those who indicated awareness of such development projects, more than one third (35%) say the
United States has provided the most aid in their local area. Respondents also identified Germany (9%), Japan
(9%), Australia (5%), India (4%), Turkey (3%), and Sweden (3%), and other aid providers to a lesser degree.
Germany was identified by a relatively higher proportion of people in the North East (30%), and a relatively
high proportion of respondents in the Central/Hazarajat (21%) and East (15%) regions identified Japan. Australia
was named by a higher proportion of people in the Central/Hazarajat (10%) and Central/Kabul (8%)
regions. India was more frequently identified in the East (7%), South West (7%) and South East (6%). The
United Kingdom was identified most often in the South West (6%), but named infrequently in other regions.
Likewise, 10% of respondents in the South West identify Canada as a major aid provider.
Three quarters (75%) of respondents give central government performance a positive assessment, including
15% who say it is doing a very good job and 60% who say it is doing a somewhat good job. Over time,
an increasing number of people report satisfaction with the way the central government is carrying out its
responsibilities. In several substantive areas, Afghans’ positive assessment of government performance is at
its highest point since 2010, including in education (89%), security provision (70%) and maintaining relations
with neighboring countries (55%).
The most frequently cited achievements of central government are a better education system (28%), establishing
peace and security (24%) and reconstruction (21%), with some variation across regions.
The most frequently reported failings of central government are administrative corruption (32%), insecurity
(23%) and lack of job opportunities (18%). Twelve percent of respondents identified suicide attacks, followed
by weak government (9%), failure to remove the Taliban (8%), a weak economy (8%), removing drugs (7%),
a bad education system (5%) and injustice (5%).
Afghanistan in 2012 9
This year, respondents identify a more diverse range of reasons for why freedom of expression has improved.
Half (50%) attribute it to good security conditions in their area, more than one third (39%) say it is due to
the legal guarantee of freedom of speech, and 13% attribute it to peace and democracy and the presence of
the ANP and ANA. Smaller percentages identified good government, unity among people, better education,
removal of the Taliban, freedom of the press and respect for human rights as reasons why people now feel
safer expressing their opinions.
More than half (52%) of respondents say they feel they can influence government decisions by participating
in political processes, including 14% who say they can have a lot of influence and 38% who say they can have
some influence. However, 24% feel that they have no influence at all.
Almost one third of respondents (29%) identify lack of education and/or illiteracy as the biggest problem
faced by women. Ten percent cite the lack of rights/women’s rights, 8% say domestic violence, 6% say forced
marriage/dowry, 5% say general healthcare and 4% say poverty. Since 2006, lack of education and illiteracy
have consistently been identified as the biggest problem for women in Afghanistan, these figures have been
stable since 2007 (29% in 2007, 28% in 2008, 30% in 2009, 31% in 2010 and 25% in 2011) with a small drop
in 2011 and rose back in 2012.
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