UPDATE: Hot Air now has a post up on this.

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What’s more important is the government they have faith in: President Hamid Karzai’s. They also say they’re optimistic about their futures and appreciate the work NATO’s doing.

A strong majority of Afghans approve of the presence of NATO-led troops in their country, including from Canada, and want the foreign soldiers to remain to fight the Taliban and support reconstruction efforts.

In a poll of Afghans conducted by Environics Research on behalf of The Globe and Mail, the CBC and La Presse, respondents expressed optimism about the future, strong support for the government of President Hamid Karzai and appreciation for the work being done by NATO countries in improving security.

In Kandahar, where the Taliban is stronger and violence more pervasive, support for the foreign troops was weaker, but respondents still want the soldiers to stay.

According to the survey, conducted between Sept. 17 and 24 with a sample of 1,578 men and women, 60 per cent said the presence of foreigners in the country was a good thing. Only 16 per cent said it was a bad thing, while 22 per cent said it was equally good and bad.

The fact that there’s strong support for foreign troops even in Kandahar, is definitely a positive sign. The polling group actually added the number of respondents questioned, to get a larger sampling of Kandahar, and found foreign presence has a whopping 61% approval. Only 23% said foreign presence was bad.

While a majority of Canadians oppose the military mission in Afghanistan and are anxious to see it end in February of 2009, if not sooner, Afghans are considerably more sanguine about the NATO presence and want it to continue.

Nationally, 64 per cent of respondents said they believe the foreigners have made a lot of progress or some progress in the fight against the Taliban.

In Kandahar, where the insurgency is still raging, 58 per cent still say the foreigners are doing a good job fighting the Taliban.

When asked about the future of the foreign soldiers, only 14 per cent said they should leave right away while 11 per cent said they should leave within a year. Another 27 per cent said the troops should stay between two and five years, but the biggest group by far – 43 per cent – thought the foreign military presence should last “however long it takes to defeat the Taliban and restore order.”

Another positive sign: A majority want the Taliban defeated. The Afghans want order and peace. Just 14% of Afghans said they shared a positive view of the Taliban. Even in Kandahar, the positive view was shared by just 20%. There are several more numbers on optimism, but we’ll head to another important category: women.

When it comes to the status of women, 73 per cent of respondents nationally said that the women are better off now than they were in 2002.

But perhaps what’s most important about this poll, is that it happened. That’s something emphasized by Canada’s Defence Minister, Peter MacKay:

Defence Minister Peter MacKay told reporters yesterday “it’s very positive that the Afghan people feel that way, feel positively towards the presence of Canadians and others from NATO that are there to help them secure their country … but I think the more telling issue is the fact that they’re able to have a poll, that this democratic process exists.”

Now, Glenn Reynolds (whom I owe a hat tip to) writes:

Montreal reader Greg Gransden emails: “What’s ironic about these numbers is that they essentially contradict virtually all of the CBC’s own reporting over the past few years, which has been relentlessly downbeat and negative. We keep hearing that Afghans are disappointed and frustrated with the Canadian air effort, that they perceive Canadian soldiers as occupiers and that they’re disillusioned with the Karzai government. Now the CBC’s own opinion poll shows this meme to be completely false. And the CBC’s not the only MSM outlet that’s been pushing this narrative… I suspect that’s why we’re not hearing more about it.”

Yes. Makes you wonder about Iraq, too.