One remarkable finding of the Asia Foundation’s annual public opinion survey, released on Tuesday, was that Afghans are slightly more “optimistic” than in 2018 and feel that the country is “moving in the right direction.” One significant explanation for this was the prospect of peace.

While some results remained fairly similar to those of 2018—such as views on corruption or satisfaction with “justice and dispute resolution” --the number of people who are optimistic that the country is “going in the right direction” increased this year to 36.1% from 32.8 % in 2018.

The report suggests that hopes for continued peace talks have influenced this change.

In this program host Nimatullah Rawan discusses the topic with the following guests:

Doud Kalakani, former MP

Hashim Alkozai, head of internal security commission in Meshrano Jirga

Jamal Nasir Osoli, political affairs analyst