Karzai Quotes & Sayings

This flag .. is raised not without costs, .. without the costs of having struggled for many years, without the costs of having lost so many lives in order to have a free and sovereign and good Afghanistan. — Hamid Karzai

Afghanistan will, by the grace of God, stand on its own feet in three to four years time. Until then, of course, we need strong support from the international community, including the United States, to stay with us and support us fully. — Hamid Karzai

Terrorism as a force is gone. As individuals they are all around and we will continue to look for them. — Hamid Karzai

Please, my dear brothers, let your wives and sisters go to the voter registration process. Later, you can control who she votes for, but please, let her go. — Hamid Karzai

Afghanistan will be a brother of Pakistan. Afghanistan will never betray a brother — Hamid Karzai

The war on terror, if this is a war on terror, can only be won by a sincere regional and international cooperation. All have to believe they have something at stake and work together. In the absence of this it will become political and interest-oriented. — Hamid Karzai

I never call it an insurgency. I call it terrorism. — Hamid Karzai

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

No peace will arrive unless the U.S. or Pakistan want it. — Hamid Karzai

I would never call a neighbor an enemy. But I would request the neighbor to be a good neighbor, to see that the neighbor's interest is a stable prosperous neighbor, a neighbor that is doing well. — Hamid Karzai

Afghanistan has moved forward and Afghanistan will defend itself. And the progress that we have achieved, the Afghan people will not allow it to be put back or reversed. — Hamid Karzai

Reconciliation is what takes place, of course, at higher levels. President Karzai has been very clear about the red lines for reconciliation, accept the constitution, lay down their weapons, cut their ties with al Qaeda and essentially become productive or at least participating members of society in that regard. — David Petraeus

The capture of Saddam Hussein has proven to the bad ones, to the guilty ones, to the sinful ones that they cannot run forever. Sooner or later, the other criminals will also be found from their hideouts. — Hamid Karzai

Afghanistan is very satisfied with Croatia's participation in the NATO-led peace mission and expects Croatia to expand its contribution to peace restoration in Afghanistan to other areas as well. — Hamid Karzai

The people of Afghanistan will continue to remember his lasting friendship with the people of Afghanistan as well as his unstinting support during the years of jihad against the Soviets. — Hamid Karzai

They're criminals, they brutalized Afghanistan, they killed our people, they destroyed our land. — Hamid Karzai

We will not let the price of peace be greater than the price of war, we will firmly safeguard the achievements of the past 13 years under former President Karzai. — Ashraf Ghani

Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Afghan President Hamid Karzai held wide-ranging talks in Kabul on Wednesay on the political and security situation in — Anonymous

Six months have passed since that horrible, horrible event of terrorism in the twin towers and Washington. I hope people all over the world recognize that these bad people, these criminals who committed crimes like that will be shown to the courts, and the people will have justice, and that we all shall work together to prevent these bad people from hurting us again. — Hamid Karzai

The West has been able to bring Afghanistan a much better health service, better education, better roads, a better economy, though some have benefited more; some have benefited less from that economic well-being in Afghanistan. — Hamid Karzai

I hope President [Hamid] Karzai understands that our national security interests don't depend entirely on his decision there whether to allow a recount. Obviously the legitimacy of that government is an important component of it. My point is it shouldn't be the lynch pin for us deciding whether we're going to protect our national security interests in that region. — Rahm Emanuel

If the United States is treating Afghanistan as a sovereign country it has to prove it. — Hamid Karzai

The West responded to the civil war by simply ignoring it, and after the 2001 invasion the years from 1992 to 1996 were all but stricken from the standard narrative. It was dangerous history, the truths buried within it too uncomfortable and "messy. If the mujahedeen had been no better than the Taliban or al-Qaeda, any attempt to bring the principal actors of that period to account could only lead to the highest echelons of Hamid Karzai's government, and, by extension, to American policy over the previous thirty years. — Anand Gopal

I hope (the United States) will change and they will now focus entirely on helping and building a stronger, better Afghanistan. — Hamid Karzai

President Karzai is an incredibly kind and decent man. I had the pleasure of meeting him, and he genuinely cares for his people. But I think he had too much of a tendency to want to rule by listening to all voices at all times. — Khaled Hosseini

As the president of Afghanistan I look at the suffering of our people as a whole. — Hamid Karzai

The ongoing war in Afghanistan is being imposed on us, and Afghans are being sacrificed in it for someone else's interests. We are not blocking the interests of the United States or other major powers. But we are demanding that if you consider Afghanistan the place from which to advance your interests, then you should also pay attention to Afghanistan's interests. — Hamid Karzai

No foreigner has a place asking another people, another country, to change their constitution. — Hamid Karzai

A democratically elected congressman of the United States of America should not be talking of an ethnic divide in Afghanistan, should not be interfering in Afghanistan's internal affairs. — Hamid Karzai

A politician is a politician whether he's wearing a suit or a funny hat. — Reza Aslan

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. — Hamid Karzai

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. — Colin Powell

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

I don't think Osama is a Muslim. I don't think Osama is a human being. — Hamid Karzai

I don't think the Taliban will ever come back to take Afghanistan, no. — Hamid Karzai

Afghanistan is a country in need. Afghanistan needs to protect itself in the region; Afghanistan needs to secure itself within the country. Afghanistan needs to develop its forces, and Afghanistan needs to provide stability to the people. — Hamid Karzai

If the military contractors are out of Afghanistan, Karzai is out 15 minutes later. — Rachel Maddow

Once the Afghan people vote and they choose their President with direct, secret ballot from all over the country, there will be a lot of difference in this country and a lot of legitimate power to flow with implementation. — Hamid Karzai

Where liberty dies, evil grows. — Hamid Karzai

The worst thing for an effective war on terror is the suspicion of states about the objectives. — Hamid Karzai

The majority of the Afghan people support a strategic partnership with the United States. — Hamid Karzai

I think President Karzai realizes exactly how important it is to strengthen the fight against corruption in the country now, step up endeavors to stop the drug trade and to deliver better governance. He said as much in his inaugural address. — Anders Fogh Rasmussen

Terrorism, ladies and gentlemen, in my eyes I have a very, very, very simple explanation. Gangs of criminals, killers, used unfortunately by certain governments in the past for political purposes, who are on their own now as gangs. — Hamid Karzai

Life without Liberty is far worse than death. — Hamid Karzai

There's no doubt that it's still a dangerous place, Afghanistan. The fortunate thing is that the United States was helping to provide security for Chairman Karzai. And it shows that the United States is committed to that regime. — Condoleezza Rice

The holy book is implanted in the hearts and minds of all the Muslims. Humiliation of the holy book represents the humiliation of our people. — Hamid Karzai

I don't know anyone who is more admired and respected in the international community than President Karzai, for his strength, for his wisdom and for his courage to lead this country, first
in defeat of the Taliban and now a democratic and unified Afghanistan. And I can tell you I am with foreign ministers and with heads of state all over the world. I sit in the councils of
NATO. I sit with the EU. I sit with people all over the world and there is great admiration for your president and also for what the Afghan people are doing here. — Condoleezza Rice

As the country now turns a new leaf, our ambition is to give hope to each and every Afghan. — Hamid Karzai

The fight, this war, this fight against the remnants of terrorism will go on for some time. — Hamid Karzai

We are not America. We are Afghanistan. — Hamid Karzai

People in Afghanistan want peace, including the Taliban. They're also people like we all are. They have families, they have relatives, they have children, they are suffering a tough time. — Hamid Karzai