Cover title.

“A Century Foundation report”—cover page.

Summary: “This paper strives to capture Afghan perspectives on the state and governance, the nature of civil society, and the role of the international community. It also explores the prospects for peace with the insurgency and draws out the implications for Western strategy. The data is based on a series of consultations with community, religious, and tribal leaders; NGO and community activists; teachers and educators; and students and youth leaders. In total, the research brings together the stories, experiences, and perspectives of more than two hundred Afghan residents from Baghlan, Balkh, Herat, Kabul, Kandahar, Khost, and Nangarhar. The paper has three main findings. First, Afghans are considerably more sophisticated than is usually assumed. … Second, Afghans regard civil society not as NGOs or urban intellectuals, but rather as all those citizens concerned about the public good as opposed to private or sectarian interests…Third, there is a growing belief that the pervasive insecurity is less a result of conflict between the government and its international allies, on the one side, and insurgents and al Qaeda on the other, and more a mutually reinforcing enterprise in which various armed actors collude in predatory and criminal behavior”—(Executive summary, p. 3).