In Asia: Weekly Insight and Features from Asia

For more information, please contact Amy Ovalle in San Francisco at aovalle@asiafound.org or 415.743.3340; or Katherine Brown in New York & Washington at kbrown@asiafound.org or 202.271.1751.

At 12a.m. Eastern Standard Time (8:30am Kabul Time) on Tuesday, October 28th, The Asia Foundation will release 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 2008: A Survey of the Afghan People” is the fourth poll conducted by the Foundation, which released previous polls in 2004, 2006, and 2007. Collectively, the four surveys establish an accurate, 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 2008 survey will be available in its entirety at www.asiafoundation.org.

The fieldwork for the survey was conducted from June 12-July 2, 2008. The methodology used was a multi-stage random sample of 6,593 in-person interviews with Afghan citizens 18 years of age and older, both women and men, from different social, economic, and ethnic communities in rural and urban areas in all 34 provinces of Afghanistan. The 2008 survey captures the Afghan public’s perceptions of reconstruction, security, governance, and attitudes towards government and informal institutions, as well as poppy cultivation, the status of women, the role of Islam in society, and the impact of media.

Funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, the 2008 survey was designed, directed, and edited by the Foundation, with all interviews completed in person by 543 Afghan men and women employed by the Afghan Center for Socio-economic and Opinion Research (ACSOR) in Kabul.