Afghans React Negatively to Civilian Killings; U.S. Favorability Matches its All-Time Low, But Has Not Vanished

VIENNA, Va., May 22, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today D3 Systems releases the third installment of its Afghan Futures series, a survey of 2,039 Afghans by its subsidiary, ACSOR Surveys. The survey features a detailed look at how Afghans attitudes have changed over time, in particular after the recent massacre of civilians in Kandahar province.

Six in 10 Afghans say the recent massacre of civilians in Kandahar province represents a broader pattern of mistreatment by U.S. soldiers, with one in four reporting incidents of violence or property damage by soldiers within their own communities. Given such complaints – buttressed by considerable outrage over the civilian killings, allegedly by a U.S. service member – favorable views of the United States, at 43 percent, now tie their low in survey data in Afghanistan dating back seven years, a vast 40 points below their peak in 2005. More troubling, a third of Afghans, 32 percent, say attacks on U.S. and NATO forces by Afghan soldiers "can be justified" under current circumstances.

Yet the results of the survey are not all negative for the United States and NATO, whose leaders meet in Chicago this week with Afghanistan as the main topic on their agenda. Seventy-four percent of Afghans still say it was good that U.S. forces came into their country to overthrow the Taliban in 2001, a result that marks the Taliban's persistent unpopularity.

Wave 3 of Afghan Futures was conducted from April 11-18, 2012, in all of Afghanistan's 34 provinces. Analysis of the data was prepared by Langer Research Associates of New York.

See the latest Afghan Futures report at http://www.d3systems.com/2012/05/20/afghan-futures-wave-3/.

SOURCE D3 Systems, Inc.