Afghan Quotes

Many Afghan intellectuals in the United States believe that their country is best kept together. They are encouraged by the fact that no leading tribal or political figure there has called for secession.

I tried to render the Afghan war as much as I could fro the perspective of the Afghans. I have served as an advisor to Afghan troops, and much of my war experience was seen through the lens of fighting that war alongside Afghan soldiers.

In all of our efforts, we continue to emphasize the importance of inclusivity and transparency on the part of the Afghan government and leadership, especially in linking nascent local governing institutions to the decision-making and financial resources in Kabul.

It is not surprising that most Pakistanis do not support America’s bombardment of Afghanistan. The Afghans are neighbours on the brink of starvation and devastated by war. America has shown itself to be untrustworthy, a superpower that uses its values as a scabbard for its sword.

And across Afghanistan, every single day, Afghan soldiers, Afghan police and ISAF troops are serving shoulder-to-shoulder in some very difficult situations. And our engagement with them, our shoulder-to-shoulder relationship with them, our conduct of operations with them every single day defines the real relationship.

‘In the nineteenth century, we beat the British more than once,’ Afghans often told me. ‘In the twentieth century, we beat the Russians. In the twenty-first, if we have to, we’ll beat the Americans!’

The Afghans are probably the world champions in resisting foreign domination and infiltration into their country.

Since 1996, the Feminist Majority Foundation has been immersed in a campaign to support Afghan women and girls in their fight against the brutal oppression of the Taliban.

In 1979, when I was toddler, the Russians invaded Afghanistan, and my whole family fled to Vienna, Virginia. Far from home, my parents were determined to raise my two sisters and me according to Afghan traditions.

Family is so central to Afghan life that all Afghan stories are family stories. Family is something I simply can’t resist because all the great themes of human life – duty, grief, sacrifice, love, envy – you find all those things within families.

Foreign aid projects have pumped billions of dollars into the Afghan economy.

We’re pursuing a strategic partnership with Afghanistan on the case of the United States and Afghanistan where we’re going to push toward a future. It is the future that the Afghans desire with the United States. It is a future that the Afghans desire with the international community and we desire that as well.

Despite the limitations of the bulky 16mm camera and 10-minute film magazines, ‘The Anderson Platoon‘ feels as spontaneous and fresh as any films that have come out of the Afghan or Iraq wars.

You must keep in mind that Pakistan has suffered the aftermaths of the Cold War, and that Cold War had left deep imprints on our society. We were the worst sufferers from the ills of the Afghan war.

If we can’t understand the Afghan family, we can’t understand Afghanistan.

I think the emancipation of women in Afghanistan has to come from inside, through Afghans themselves, gradually, over time.

If we are visiting Afghans, typically the Afghan governor, district or provincial governor, we see he doesn’t wear body armor, and yet we’re walking through his streets. I’m his guest. I think that that’s important that I send a message that I trust him and I don’t think I am more valuable than I think he is.

We as the Afghan people and government are willing to help Pakistan work for peace in Afghanistan and work for peace in Pakistan, together.

The dangers of an Afghan collapse are many: Afghan deaths, a loss of American prestige, a loss of NATO prestige, a moral blow to U.S. troops and veterans, a Taliban resurgence, huge setbacks for women, and greater power for Pakistan and Pakistani extremists.

The United States supports the reintegration of people who have fought with the Taliban into Afghan society provided they: one, renounce al Qaeda, two, lay down their arms and renounce violence, and three, participate in the public political life of the country in accordance with the constitution.

President Trump should appoint a special presidential envoy and empower them to wage an unconventional war against Taliban and Daesh forces, to hold the corrupt officials accountable and to negotiate with their Afghan counterparts and the Afghan Taliban that are willing to reconcile with Kabul.

My war buddies, some were Americans, but some were Afghans. These were the guys that I fought alongside. We bled alongside each other; we mourned together. When I came home, these weren’t people I could keep up with on Facebook.

We are not in Afghanistan because girls were not allowed to go to school, but helping them do so will give the Afghan people hope for a better future.

The Taliban, broadly speaking, are Afghans – farmers, subsistence farmers. As I say, most of those people can’t find the United States on the map. Al Qaeda, traditionally, are much more educated, middle-class people, often from Egypt, from Saudi Arabia, North Africa.

Being from Delhi I have been exposed to Afghan culture.

I didn’t want kabobs, Afghan music, and rules that required girls to be carefully monitored. I wanted mac and cheese, country music, and independence.

The Taliban mostly attacks international and Afghan security forces. They rarely carry out attacks in markets.

Afghan society is very complex, and Afghanistan has a very complex culture. Part of the reason it has remained unknown is because of this complexity.

We want an Afghanistan that is shaped by the dreams of the great Afghan people, not by irrational fears and overreaching ambitions of others.

One can only imagine how Iranians or Afghans would deal with unelected judges moving to de-Islamicize their nations.

Unlike the Afghans and Iraqis, the South Korean people solidly supported the American military presence, which was part of a United Nations operation.

Keeping a relatively small, predominantly U.S. Special Forces presence in Afghanistan to continue to train the Afghan army past December 2016 is a wise policy that would benefit both Afghans and Americans.

Our troops shouldn’t be mired in taking land for the Afghan military, providing force protection and fighting a permanent insurgency.

But the war on terror as I have repeatedly said in the past, and the Afghan people believe in it, in truth, is that the war on terror is not in the Afghan villages or homes. Its in the sanctuaries, it is in the training grounds, its in the motivation factors and the money that comes to it.

Although combat operations unseated the Taliban and the Saddam Hussein regime, a poor understanding of the recent histories of the Afghan and Iraqi peoples undermined efforts to consolidate early battlefield gains into lasting security.

The draconian prohibitions of the Taliban years and the gains Afghan women have achieved since the Taliban government was overthrown in 2001 are now well known and often cited: Today, Afghans lucky enough to live in secure regions can go to school, women may work in offices, and the burqa is no longer mandatory.

Do you know Afghan children wear shoes when they sleep, so they can run easily if a bomb falls during the night? Iraq has been similarly pushed against the wall. What proof did the West ultimately have, what justification for raining bombs on them?

We’ve got to see a state where the Afghan government can handle its own day-to-day security.

Central to achieving progress in Afghanistan – and to setting the conditions necessary to transition security tasks from the international community to the Afghan government – is increasing the size and capability of ANSF.

When US-led forces toppled the Taliban government in November 2001, Afghans celebrated the downfall of a reviled and discredited regime.

WikiLeaks published the Afghan War Logs and U.S. diplomatic cables stolen from a classified network by an Army private.

If you look back historically, admittedly a long time ago, there were three Afghan wars in which Britain didn’t even come a good second. In more recent years the Russians were there with 120,000 men for ten years.

In Afghan culture, you don’t date – you marry. Even talking to boys before marriage brings great shame to your family.

Well, the reports are correct that we’re conducting very robust military operations on the Afghan side of the border in areas where we think al-Qaida is operating and Taliban remnants are.

The Afghans did not have sophisticated weapons like the Soviets did, but with their faith they defeated a superpower.

After the Soviet withdrawal, many Afghan Communists had rebranded themselves as Islamists and joined the mujahedeen.

I don’t think the Palestinian people or Afghan children or some other things I’m concerned about are at the top of other people’s agendas – not right now, when America is going through such a recession and people are suffering across the board financially. But I think all that will change.

Trust is an amazing commodity. The Afghan people often talk to me about having to develop trust in America, because they believe that we deserted them in 1990 and 1991.

The Taliban may pine for a pre-industrial society, but most Afghans do not.

When I talk to another Afghan I am his or her equal and that moves me to tears.

The Afghans I met were some of the nicest and most honorable people I’ve ever encountered. There is a code called ‘Pashtunwali,’ so if someone invites you into their village, every last man will fight to protect your life. I was impressed by that.

I myself had to grow a longer beard and Afghan clothes. I was in danger of being kidnapped by smugglers, though I didn’t know it at the time.

It is in Pakistan’s own interest that the Afghan army is able to fight effectively against the Taliban, which is more likely if they continue to have American advisers at their side.

We all hoped in 2001 that we could put in place an Afghan government under President Karzai that would be able to control the country, make sure al-Qaeda didn’t come back, and make sure the Taliban wasn’t resurging. It didn’t work out.

There is a firm, clear commitment to provide resources and ideas to enable us to organize the Afghans towards starting the process of rehabilitation and reconstruction.

‘I Am Singh’ is about Sikhs, who, despite living in the U.S. for generations, were mistaken for Arabs and Afghans due to their turbans and became victims of racist violence in the aftermath of 9/11. The film takes a look at the discrimination against Sikhs post 9/11.

If it is terrorism, if it is war on terror, then the Afghan people will join you on terror.

The Western media has depicted the Afghan woman as a helpless, weak individual. I have said it before, and I shall repeat it: The Afghan woman is strong. The Afghan woman is resourceful. The Afghan woman is resilient.

Definitely in the West, we’re all cast as the same now. Whether you’re Indian, Pakistani, Arab, Iranian, Afghan or whatever, you just get thrown into this category. And nine times out of 10, you’re depicted as bad.

Mecca and Medinah is a very special place in the hearts of every Muslim but particularly for every Afghan.

The fact is that Iran doesn’t want to see the Taliban come back any more than do most Afghan citizens.

There is no Afghan Awakening Movement.

After 9/11, a few hundred CIA and Special Operations personnel, backed by airpower and Afghan militias, devastated Taliban and al-Qaeda forces. That effort has since turned into a conventional Pentagon nation-building exercise and gone backward.

As the Obama administration negotiates with the Karzai government and with Pakistan, we may be tempted to make commitments that, in the name of nation-building, restrict our ability to fight terrorists. If we must involve the Afghan government in every night raid, our operations will slow and targets will escape.

I’m a believer in the Afghan people, so I support an increase in forces there.

The family is the single most important institution in Afghan culture. It is described in the country’s constitution as the ‘fundamental pillar of society’.