Voices of Afghanistan

Voices of Afghanistan: An Evaluation Study
by Seema Patel

The initial findings of the CSIS 2006 Measures of Progress report? "Afghans are less hopeful today than they were a year ago" and "The state-building mission has lost ground, and is slipping further into the 'danger zone'." 

To this end, six Afghan interviewers (three men and three women), trained in social science research, conducted 1,000 qualitative interviews over a six-week period covering the five pillars of reconstruction: security, governance, justice, economic opportunity, and social well-being.  The interviewers covered thirteen provinces—encompassing all five regions of Afghanistan—and captured a balanced sampling of ethnic groups...

Gains have been made in education, communication, government processes, institutional capacity, roads, and the private sector. Yet, the big issues from the beginning of the intervention remain: how to manage warlords and continued impunity, how to decrease poppy and drug trafficking, how to stop support for the Taliban, how to deliver electricity and revitalize the judiciary, and how to provide economic development in areas with limited access and infrastructure and serious security constraints.