Pakistani Public Opinion on the Swat Conflict

Pakistani Public Opinion on the Swat Conflict, Afghanistan, and the US

Wednesday, July 1, 2009
9:00 am – 10:30 am
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
2nd floor, Root Room
1779 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington DC. 20036

WorldPublicOpinion.org invites you to attend the release of a new in-depth survey conducted in Pakistan.

The poll investigated the following issues:

• How does the Pakistani public understand the Swat Valley conflict between their government and the Pakistani Taliban? Which do they sympathize with more? Do they perceive the Pakistani Taliban as a possible negotiating partner?
• How do Pakistanis now perceive religious militant groups in general? Has the Swat experience altered the public’s outlook?
• How do Pakistanis feel now about the Afghan Taliban, or al Qaeda? How well do they understand these groups’ operations in their country? Could they support a Pakistani Army offensive against these groups’ bases?
• How do Pakistanis perceive President Obama at this early stage of his administration? Do they think his policies will be better for Pakistan? Do they view his intentions differently from how they view US intentions in general? Are there signs that negative views of the US are softening?

Findings will be presented by:

Clay Ramsay, Research Director, Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) and WorldPublicOpinion.org
and
C. Christine Fair, Senior Political Scientist, RAND Corporation; Assistant Professor, Georgetown University. Dr. Fair collaborated on the development of the survey.

Dr. Stephen Cohen, Brookings Institution Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies and author (most recently) of Four Crises and a Peace Process: American Engagement in South Asia (2007) and The Idea of Pakistan (2004), will comment on the study’s findings and on Pakistan’s situation more broadly.

RSVP required. Please email: info@pipa.org or call: 202-232-7500.

WorldPublicOpinion.org is a collaborative research project involving research centers from around the world and managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland.

ENDS

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