A new poll released on Monday revealed that Afghans feel more optimistic about their country's future than they did a year ago.

The results are based on a survey of approximately 1,500 Afghan people conducted by German broadcaster WDR, US-based news network ABC and the BBC.

Seventy percent considered Afghanistan to be on the right track, marking a 30 percent rise from last year's poll numbers.

However, in the northeast of the country, where German troops are stationed, the results were less positive. Only 43 percent said they had a positive view of the security situation compared with 72 percent a year ago.

Arnd Henze, WDR's foreign affairs editor, cites the bombing of two hijacked petrol tankers there last September, which killed over 140 people - including many civilians - as the cause for this decline.

Afghan poll results

The survey also found that seven in 10 Afghans continue to support the presence of US troops in their country and 61 percent view positively the recent decision to deploy 37,000 additional US and NATO forces. Ten percent of Afghans support the Taliban.

Furthermore, despite widespread allegations of vote-rigging, 75 percent of Afghans said they were satisfied with the results of the presidential election last autumn. The same percentage said they trusted President Hamid Karzai to improve security and economic conditions. However, 95 percent said that corruption continues to be a serious problem.

According to Henze, the result showed that "Afghans focus on very different developments than we in Europe or the US do."

WDR's editor-in-chief, Joerg Schoenenborn, said the upcoming international conference on Afghanistan "should not take place under the assumption that nothing can improve in Afghanistan and it's all about getting out quickly."

The conference is planned for January 28th and will take place in London.

vj/dpa/AP/AFP
Editor: Chuck Penfold