Kabul, Nov 14 (AP) Afghans are slightly more optimisticabout the future than they were last year, despite a stagnanteconomy and near-constant attacks by a revitalized Taliban,according to the results of a nationwide poll released today.
The annual survey by the San Francisco-based AsiaFoundation, released in Kabul, found that 32.8 per cent ofAfghans believe their country is moving in the rightdirection, up from 29.3 per cent in 2016.
Another 61.2 per cent said the country is heading in thewrong direction, down from 65.9 percent — a record high —in 2016.
The foundation acknowledged that the slight increase inoptimism is "difficult to explain."The country has been mired in war since the 2001 US-ledinvasion. The Taliban have regrouped and driven theAfghanistan's beleaguered security forces from a number ofdistricts across the country. An upstart Islamic State groupaffiliate has meanwhile carried out several attacks targetingcivilians.
The foundation polled 10,012 Afghan men and women inface-to-face interviews conducted between July 5 and July 23in all 34 provinces. The poll has a 1.4 per cent margin oferror.
"The main finding for this year's survey, if you look atoverall the public perception, it is starting to stabilise interm of how people view the future of Afghanistan and publicoptimism is increasing in a variety of areas although thereare issues around people's desire to leave the country andlive abroad if provided with an opportunity," AbdullahAhmadzai, country representative for The Asia Foundation saidafter announcing the study in Kabul.
The findings marked the reversal of a decade-longdownward trajectory, the foundation said.
However, most respondents expressed concern about thesecurity and future of the country, and 38.8 per cent saidthey would leave Afghanistan if they had the opportunity, thesecond-highest number recorded since the survey began in 2004.
"So overall 2017 compared to 2016 shows a trend that ismore positive and optimistic compared to last year, where wehad the public pessimism at its highest and public optimism atits lowest levels," Ahmadzai said.
Reactions to the survey from residents in the capitaldiffered. While some didn't agree with the results, universitystudent Mir Hussain said it makes sense to him that mostAfghans are hopeful for the future.
"If we think that our country is not moving forward it isnot going to help us, we are not willing to move backward," hesaid. "We are optimistic and our country has to move forward."Ahmadzai said there are specific reasons why some Afghans arenot hopeful for the future.
"When it comes to public pessimism in terms of where theysee the country is heading, the main issues are aroundsecurity, unemployment or the economic situation and the factthat the unemployment rate is reported to be quite high in thereporting year."Ahmadzai said confidence in public institutions hasslightly improved, though nearly all Afghans say the country'srampant corruption affects their lives, consistent with lastyear's findings. (AP)SMJ.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.