Afghans speak out on war

By Farah Stockman, Globe Staff

As President Obama nears a decision on a strategy in Afghanistan, a survey released today by Oxfam America, a Boston-based aid advocacy group, sheds some light on how Afghans view the conflict.

The survey, which compiled interviews with more than 700 men and women across Afghanistan, shows that -- despite suicide attacks and unrelenting bloodshed -- most Afghans believe that previous periods of their country's history are far worse than what they are going through now. (Read the survey here.)

Thirty-eight percent of respondents said that the communist period, which lasted from 1979 to 1992, was the most harmful to the country, while 33 percent called the period under Taliban rule, from 1996 to 2001, the most harmful. Another 22 percent named the time of civil war, from 1992 to 1996, as the worst time, while just 3 percent named the current conflict as the worst time since Afghanistan descended into chaos in 1979.

The study presents a stark picture of the human tragedy that has unfolded in the country over the last 30 years, suggesting that a significant number of Afghans may have suffered from post traumatic stress at one point in time or another. One out of every five respondents reported that they had been tortured at some point by either the Taliban, the mujahadeen, or the communists, while a third said that someone in their family had been imprisoned.

But the report does offer some measure of hope, suggesting that effective aid could bring about lasting change in the country.

Seventy percent of all respondents said they believe that poverty and unemployment is a major factor in the continuing war in Afghanistan, while 48 percent saw corruption as a major factor. Also, 36 percent named the Taliban's actions as a chief cause for the continuing conflict, while only 18% listed the presence of international forces as a major reason that fighting continues.