A US organisation said on Tuesday that 35 per cent of Afghans believe their country is moving in the wrong direction, the highest level of dissatisfaction found since polling began in 2004.
The Asia Foundation cited insecurity as the main cause of growing pessimism in its annual public opinion poll of more than 6,000 people.
Although 46 percent still think Afghanistan is moving in the right direction, the proportion who do not rose by eight percentage points to 35 percent, its highest since the non-profit group started polling in the country.
It said 56 percent of those questioned fear for their safety, with concern highest in the southeast, while 22 percent say that they or one of their relatives has fallen victim to violence or crime in the last year.
The proportion who believe the country is moving in the right direction fell slightly -- by one percentage point from 2010 -- to 46 percent.
Those respondents pointed to reconstruction efforts, good security and an improving education system as reasons for their optimism.
The study also recorded the lowest levels of sympathy yet with the Taliban, down to 29 percent from 40 percent in 2010, and strong public support at 82 percent for efforts to make peace with the insurgents.
The findings come amid persistent violence 10 years after the 2001 US-led invasion ousted the Taliban and as foreign troops start to withdraw.
All international combat troops are due to leave by the end of 2014, with 33,000 US forces due to leave by the end of next year.
"The priority now is to integrate these findings into useful guideposts for future development efforts by the Afghanistan government and the international community," said Asia Foundation president David Arnold.
The United Nations says the Taliban are responsible for some 80 percent of civilian casualties in the war.
But President Hamid Karzai's hopes of a breakthrough in efforts to pursue a settlement with the Taliban were dealt a sharp blow in September with the assassination of his peace envoy Burhanuddin Rabbani.
The survey also asked respondents what they thought were the biggest issues facing Afghan women.
While 25 percent identified a lack of education and/or illiteracy, 15 percent cited a lack of rights, nine percent said domestic violence and eight percent said forced marriage and/or dowries, healthcare and poverty.
Researchers spoke face-to-face to a random, representative sample of 6,348 Afghan adults across the country in July and August this year. The Asia Foundation said the margin of error in the poll was 4.1 percent.