I was in Kabul from Apr 10-Mar 11.  Most of my time was spent on a miltary compound, but I had occasion for interactions with locals.   Some of these were optimistic, some less so.

I had the privilige of touring a local girl's orphanage.  I found a nice, well run place with girls getting a good education in a nurturing environment.   The goal was to get all the girls into college and they had pretty good luck with the first girls to reach that age.   The video shows a little girl singing a song she learned (in English) after we read several books.   The sad aspect was that I couldn't help but thinking that these girls, who had been sadly orphaned, seemed to have a better chance at a comfortable life than most Afghan girls who weren't orphaned.

I also worked regular with a local construction contractor who would do odd jobs for us.   He was an educated, hard-working guy and just wanted to build a successful business and he was doing well. 

Of course all also saw many examples of corruption, waste, and sloth -- Afghan government entities that worked at cross purposes so each could get a share of money, etc.  However, there were definitely some people who wanted nothing, but a decent, stable, peaceful life.