Prelude to Gallopedia Polls, Week # 94

Dated 15th-21st Nov. 09'

This week’s report consists of 22 surveys. Two of these are multi-country surveys and the rest are national surveys. Brief comments on two issues are as follows.

What do Afghans expect of the international community and its neighbors? The recent Gallup international survey shows that Afghans want UN, NATO, India, Pakistan and Iran to play a role in reconstruction of the country and its economic build up. However support for the current government is a sour issue, perhaps due to their low level of faith in the transparency of the Karzai government. Pakistan is perceived as being supportive of Taliban, a highly discouraged notion. The primary concern seems the need of assistance and support in reconstruction and economic development. These perceptions also depict a desire to govern their own country, lack of intervention and the need for the withdrawal of forces.

Iran’s nuclear issue has been significant in international affairs. Overwhelming majorities in almost all the west European countries and United States deem Iran’s nuclear capabilities a major threat. Russia and Ukraine, however, seem to be distinct exceptions. Is Russia going to veto any resolution in Security Council imposing stricter sanctions against Iran? Russia has a long history of relations with Iran and keeping in view the resurging status of Russia, one may expect Russia to take a position on Iran’s nuclear issue in the U.N Security Council.

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The complete detailed weekly reports of the project can be found on theGilani Research Foundation website.