Asia Foundation Survey 2017 –
The Asia Foundation published on November 14, 2017 it’s annual A Survey of the Afghan People: Afghanistan in 2017. This 267-page report presents the opinions and perspectives of a wide and deep cross-section of the Afghan population on a number of significant issues facing the country. The contents of the report cover:
- National Mood
- Security
- Economic Growth and Employment
- Development and Service Delivery
- Governance
- Political Participation
- Access to Information and the Media
- Women in Society
- Migration
Survey Perspective. The Asia Foundation Survey 2017 provides a portrait of the changing public perceptions of the economy, government, development, security, and a many other issues from the viewpoint of the population.
Method of Survey. The Asia Foundation polled over 10,000 Afghan respondents from a wide variety of ethnic groups across all of the Afghan provinces. This required polling in some insecure and remote areas of Afghanistan. This survey has been conducted since 2004 with over 97,000 opinions of Afghan men and women presented.
Security Highlights of the Report. The report notes that security in Afghanistan continues to deteriorate in 2017. The security section of the report provides information on six areas:
- Fear for Personal Safety
- Experience and Reporting of Crime and Violence
- Perceptions of the Afghan National Security Forces
- Peace and Reconciliation
- Fear of Encountering Armed Forces
- Knowledge and Threat of ISIS/Daesh
Perceptions of the Afghan National Security Forces. A ‘Executive Summary’ of the security environment found on page 7 of the report is provided below:
“Public perceptions of the ANP, which after 2014 declined in all categories of capacity and performance assessed by the Survey, have stabilized in 2017. The proportion of Afghans who “strongly” agree that the ANP helps improve security has stopped falling, a slight uptick of 2.0 percentage points can be seen this year in assessments that the ANP is efficient at arresting criminals, and those strongly agreeing that the ANP is honest and fair increased by 7.2 percentage points over 2016. Findings for the ANA parallel the ANP, with a 5.2-point gain since 2016 for “honest and fair,” a 4.6-point gain for “helps improve security,” and a 3.4-point gain for “protects civilians”.”
Perceptions of the Afghan Local Police (ALP). One organization of the security forces constantly under the microscope of the international community is the Afghan Local Police. This local, community-based police force comes under the control of the Ministry of Interior. A segment of the international media (especially those organizations based in Europe) and human rights organizations point to a spotty human rights record of the ALP. However, according to the survey “. . . one-fifth of Afghans consistently identify the ALP as the primary security provider in their community.” [1]
Security Section of the Report. The report provides in pages 41- 63 the security questions asked in the survey, a summary of the findings, and charts and graphs to illustrate the findings.
View online or download the Asia Foundation Survey 2017:
https://asiafoundation.org/publication/afghanistan-2017-survey-afghan-people
Footnotes:
[1] The quote above is found on page 41 of the report.
