“[Mullah Omar] gave himself this religious title. So it was something that all those people there who swore an oath of loyalty to him as a religious leader could not easily get rid of.” PeopleReligiousLeaderLoyaltyTitlesOathReligious LeadersOmar Author:Ahmed Rashid
“What everyone underestimated was the acute unpopularity of the Taliban, even in the Pashtun areas. People like myself were saying the Taliban would be driven out very swiftly from the north of Afghanistan, but given that their main support base was in the Pashtun belt, there would be greater resistance there. That didn't happen. The Taliban had become deeply unpopular and were actually discarded by the Pashtun population almost as quickly as they were in the north. I don't see the Taliban coming back in any way.” PeopleWayHappensWould BeGivenSupportGreaterAreasPopulationDrivenResistanceAfghanistanComing BackBeltsTalibanDiscardedUnderestimatedPashtuns Author:Ahmed Rashid
“Dysfunctional states like Afghanistan need business people who are deeply rooted in their country and invest in it. They can add stability. But all development programs of the United States and the European countries unfortunately exclude the private sector, which could make investments based on profitability.” PeopleCountryProgramInvestmentStabilityAfghanistan Author:Ahmed Rashid
“The Soviets held to the tradition of colonialism. They raped the country and killed many people. But they also built dams, electrical power plants, streets, and technical schools. They were communists and had the same vision for Afghanistan that Stalin and Lenin had for the Soviet Union: Progress is communism plus electrification. And today? Today Kabul gets its electrical power from Uzbekistan, Herat from Iran and Jalalabad from Pakistan.” PeopleCountryTodaySchoolVisionProgressTraditionPlantCommunismCommunistAfghanistanSovietSoviet UnionElectrical Author:Ahmed Rashid
