Afghanistan Quotes - Page 24

• I did an embed in Afghanistan on the Pakistan border in 2008. One of the things you realize when you're talking to low-ranking enlisted men is that no one listens to them. So when I showed up they loved having someone to talk to. That's a real privilege for me. The guys on the ground are the guys I care about. I've had the most satisfaction telling their stories. There is trust and there is stuff that you learn to hold back, especially when you're dealing with younger guys or lower ranking officers. That's different from the top brass who are basically just politicians anyway.

  Michael Hastings

  Real, Men, Guy

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

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• I've always said that if you want to find out what's going on in Iraq or Afghanistan or Libya, I'll give you a choice. You can either read The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, or you can go to the NATO, ISAF, multi-national force websites where they have their own news releases. Who will give you a more accurate picture? I'll take the mainstream media.

  Michael Hastings

  Wall, Giving, Choices

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

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• We have to be concerned that Russia is also increasing its military influence in Egypt, potentially in Libya, also in Afghanistan.

  Kimberly Zisk Marten

  Military, Influence, Concerned

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• Continuous wars - which we have now had since 2001 - starting with Afghanistan, continuing on to Iraq. And even since Iraq, it's been more or less continuous. The appalling war in Libya, which has wrecked that country and wrecked that part of the world, and which isn't over by any means. The indirect Western intervention in Syria, which has created new monsters. These are policies, which if carried out by any individual government, would be considered extremist. Now, they're being carried out collectively by the United States, backed by some of the countries of the European Union.

  Tariq Ali

  Country, War, Mean

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

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• In military terms, if you're not winning, sometimes you are losing. We've seen the Taliban and associated terrorist organizations make gains in recent years. It's time to stop those gains and roll them back. There's a lot of different techniques to do so, but we cannot allow Afghanistan to once again become an ungoverned country from which terrorist organizations can launch attacks against the United States and our citizens.

  Tom Cotton

  Country, Military, Winning

  Source: www.cbsnews.com

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• I think it was fully justified after 9/11 to initiate a military action against Afghanistan, because we hoped to create a democracy, and have a flourishing economy, and to do away with al-Qaida, and to capture Osama bin Laden.

  Jimmy Carter

  Military, Thinking, Democracy

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• 2017 is going to be another tough year for the valiant Afghan Security Forces and the international troops who have stood and will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with Afghanistan against terrorism.

  James Mattis

  Tough, Terrorism, Security

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• NATO is in our national security interests. And, yes, we pay a lot for it, but, when we had Afghanistan, NATO troops were by our side from almost all of the NATO members. And they put their life and treasure on the line for us.

  James Franklin Jeffrey

  National Security, Interest, Nato

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• One of the thing about being President - that can't be taught, you have to experience, is - there is the sheer weight of decision making. And when I make a decision to send 17,000 young Americans to Afghanistan - you can understand that intellectually. But understanding what that means for those families, for those young people - when you end up sitting at your desk, signing - a condolence letter to one of the family members of a fallen hero - you're reminded each and every day, at every moment, that - the decisions you make count.

  Barack Obama

  Hero, Condolences, Mean

  Source: www.cbsnews.com

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• The problem with an economic meltdown is that the responsibility and the challenges to deal with the environment are squandered. That's an age-old battle in terms of the major conflicts in places like Afghanistan, etc. So there are age-old battles that'll keep going on. Unfortunately, man is a very slow learner, and we tend to repeat mistakes, as opposed to learning from mistakes.

  John Hillcoat

  Mistake, Responsibility, Men

  Source: www.avclub.com

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• Now, here we are, and we have Obama in office, and he has drawn down forces in Iraq - which is a plan that was on Bush's desk the day that he left office. The forces in Afghanistan, he's going to draw down, too. But at the same time, Obama has also expanded a lot of the more unsavory, covert aspects of the wars, with the drone strikes and some of the night-raid missions.

  Jeremy Scahill

  War, Office

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

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• As an internationalist, I feel that it is simply my duty to fight for Borneo, as it is my duty to fight for Afghanistan or for Venezuela. If someone is ready to support my work and my struggle, I'll be grateful. If no one will, I'll do it on my own, somehow! Attempts to destroy our planet do not wait. Why should I?

  Andre Vltchek

  Struggle, Grateful, Fighting

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

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• We've been talking about the Syrian refugee crisis a lot, in the news in the U.K. and possibly the U.S., but it isn't the only refugee crisis that is happening at this minute. There's something like 22 million refugees in the world. There are people from Eritrea, Afghanistan, Syria, and so many other places where people are living in complete turmoil.

  Nadine Shah

  People, World, Crisis

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

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• For Americans, Poland has been a symbol of hope since the beginning of our nation. Polish heroes and American patriots fought side by side in our War of Independence and in many wars that followed. Our soldiers still serve together today in Afghanistan and Iraq, combatting the enemies of all civilization.For America's part, we have never given up on freedom and independence as the right and destiny of the Polish people, and we never, ever will.

  Donald Trump

  War, Hero, Destiny

  Source: www.cnn.com

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• There were the physical challenges of hitchhiking across Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan as they were quite dangerous areas. I wrote about that in The Journey Home. I loved my family and they loved me, so making a choice so completely different from the life they knew was also a challenge. Not having material possessions or the security of a home and taking vows of celibacy for life were kind of natural for me, although they were also challenging. But I guess the greatest challenge for me was that I loved so many different spiritual paths.

  Radhanath Swami

  Spiritual, Home, Journey

  Source: www.psychologytoday.com

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• The Iraq War has thrown such a heavy shadow on Afghanistan that you can't hardly get any news about that now. I went to Afghanistan this year and spent more time there than I did in Iraq ... just 'cause they were forgotten about, and I wanted them to know that I appreciated it.

  Toby Keith

  War, Shadow, Appreciated

  Source: www.ocregister.com

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• When I was in Afghanistan in 2007, I went from village to village where refugees had returned, and they were living out in the open under tents, sometimes completely exposed to the environment. And they were homeless, which meant they would lose children in the winter to the cold and in the summers in the extreme heat. It's extremely humiliating for them to be homeless, culturally it's very shameful.

  Khaled Hosseini

  Summer, Children, Winter

  "Web Exclusive Interview: Kite Runner author Khaled Hosseini to Speak on Refugee Crisis at Event in Lafayette". Interview with Pete Crooks, www.diablomag.com. April 2009.

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• People get upset when Baghdad, the "Cradle of Civilization" is burning, or when the Buddhas in Afghanistan are falling. These are real concerns.

  Aleksandra Mir

  Real, Fall, Civilization

  Interview with Christopher Bollen, believermag.com. January 1, 2004.

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• Look what happened with regard to our invasion into Afghanistan, how we apparently intentionally let bin Laden get away. That was done by the previous administration because they knew very well that if they would capture al Qaeda, there would be no justification for an invasion in Iraq. There’s no question that the leader of the military operations of the U.S. called back our military, called them back from going after the head of al Qaeda.

  Maurice Hinchey

  Military, Iraq, Leader

  "Dem: Bush intentionally lost bin Laden" by Andy Barr, www.politico.com. November 30, 2009.

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• Our [Afghanistan] main problem is education. Over 90 percent of our population is uneducated. So what can you expect? The terrorists come from Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, saying the Quran says this, Quran says that, and the Afghans believe that because they speak Arabic, they think they know the language of Quran, and they know Islam better than us, let's follow them. So they simply follow them.

  Najibullah Quraishi

  Believe, Thinking, Iraq

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• After the war in Afghanistan, Anna [Wintour, editor of Vogue], deciding to save the world one hair-roller at a time, thought the best way to help the women in this beleaguered country was to start a small beauty school in Kabul, where aid workers could get their roots done. Vanity Fair, edited by Bush-basher Graydon Carter, cheered her great humanitarian effort.

  Myrna Blyth

  Country, War, School

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• Some say that by fighting the terrorists abroad since September the 11th, we only stir up a hornets' nest. But the terrorists who struck that day were stirred up already. If America were not fighting terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere, what would these thousands of killers do - suddenly begin leading productive lives of service and charity? ... We are dealing here with killers who have made the death of Americans the calling of their lives.

  George W. Bush

  Fighting, Productive Life, Iraq

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• The costs of the Bush-Obama wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are now estimated to run as high as $4.4 trillion - a major victory for Osama bin Laden, whose announced goal was to bankrupt America by drawing it into a trap. The 2011 military budget - almost matching that of the rest of the world combined - is higher in real terms than at any time since World War II and is slated to go even higher .

  Noam Chomsky

  Running, Military, Real

  Noam Chomsky (2016). “Who Rules the World?”, p.62, Metropolitan Books

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• Having the career of the beloved CIA Director and the commanding general in Afghanistan instantly destroyed due to highly invasive and unwarranted electronic surveillance is almost enough to make one believe not only that there is a god, but that he is an ardent civil libertarian.

  Glenn Greenwald

  Believe, Careers, Directors

  "FBI's abuse of the surveillance state is the real scandal needing investigation" by Glenn Greenwald, www.theguardian.com. November 13, 2012.

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• The blow back from the cold war is that a weakened Russia allowed Afghanistan to become a failed state, and then all this weaponry to flow into all these other conflicts. Our greatest triumph has almost fueled our most intractable battle now.

  Jon Stewart

  War, Blow, Russia

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