The Afghanistan Compact, which the Afghan government signed in 2006, with over 60 nations and international institutions promising to provide the necessary resources and support for achieving a "shared vision of the future" for a "stable and prosperous Afghanistan", is seen in 2007 to have had little impact. The assumption of relative stability upon which the Compact was based has been undercut by insurgency, diverting time and resources. This paper presents an overviwe of the nature of conflict and the arena for reconstruction in Afghanistan. It examines more closely conflict in a northern, "less volatile" region, and discusses three reports from opinion surveys conducted with Afghan people in 2005-2006.