The findings of a new Washington Post poll of Afghans are rather striking, but they don’t fit with the Post‘s headline, “Afghan poll shows falling confidence in U.S. efforts to secure country.”

“Afghans are more pessimistic about the direction of their country, less confident in the ability of the United States and its allies to provide security and more willing to negotiate with the Taliban than they were a year ago, according to a new poll conducted in all of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces,” the Post‘s report begins. But if you look at the actual results of the poll it becomes clear that a comparison between this year’s numbers and last year’s lacks important context.