Hearts and minds in Afghanistan

The latest ABC NEWS/BBC/ARD poll from December 2009, Afghanistan--–where things stand, naturally concentrates on the increasing confidence (since last year) that Afghans have in U.S. and ISAF forces and in the Afghan National Army.

But buried within the report is a question whose answer has been almost unchanged since last year:

Overall, please say if you think each of these countries
is playing a positive, neutral, or negative role
in Afghanistan now?

              12/23/09 – Summary table

              Positive  Neutral  Negative  No opinion
a. Russia          22    38       31        9
b. Iran            27    29       39        5
c. Pakistan         9    13       73        5
d. India           36    44       13        6
e. U.S.            45    18       31        6
f. U.K.            28    31       31       10
g. Germany         32    39       19        9

There is also an "overall impression" question, whose results are similar:

Now I’m going to ask what you think about some people and groups.
Is your opinion of [INSERT] very favorable, somewhat favorable,
somewhat unfavorable, or very unfavorable?

              12/23/09 – Summary table

                 ----- Favorable -----   ---- Unfavorable ----   No
                 NET   Very   Somewhat   NET   Somewhat   Very  opinion
a. The Taliban    10    3         7       89     13        75     1
b. Osama Bin Laden 6    2         4       91     13        77     3
c. The U.S.       51    8        43       46     21        25     3
d. Pakistan       16    2        13       81     32        49     3
e. Great Britain  39    7        32       53     28        24     9
f. Iran           50   18        32       45     25        20     6
g. Germany        58   17        42       34     21        14     8
h. India          71   29        42       22     14         7     7
i. Hamid Karzai   82   55        28       13      8         5     5
j. Al Qaeda and other
   foreign jihadis 8    3         5       86     19        67     6

The most popular entity here, after Hamid Karzai's 82 percent favorable rating, is India. And the most disliked, after the Taliban and Al Qaeda, is Pakistan.