Development cooperation in conflict settings is a daunting task. Afghanistan is in the limelight and we have followed suit. There is a plethora of studies of what has presumably gone wrong with foreign interventions, what has been achieved, and what should be done. However, there is little hard evidence on whether development cooperation has an impact on conflict transformation, governance, and security in the target zone. The BMZ evaluation unit has therefore, in fall 2006, embarked on a three year cooperative research project with researchers from the Free University Berlin to follow up on these questions. The overall objectives of this project are, first, to develop a method for assessing the impact of develop ment cooperation in conflict zones, second, to apply this method in North East Afghanistan, and third, to deduct evidence-based policy recommendations on how to proceed in this particular case. The report is based on two mass surveys. The first was conducted in April 2007, the follow-up survey in March 2009. Both surveys were accompanied by extended periods of fieldwork. Altogether, researchers associated with this project spent sixteen weeks on the ground.