“As recently as the 1970s, some Pashtun leaders in Afghanistan were pus...” — Stephen Kinzer Quote

“As recently as the 1970s, some Pashtun leaders in Afghanistan were pushing to create a new state, Pashtunistan, by joining with Pashtuns in Pakistan.”

“During the 19th century, Britain fought two wars in unsuccessful attempts to subjugate the Afghans. When Britain finally drew a border between India and Afghanistan in 1893, Pashtun tribes in southern Afghanistan were cut off from related tribes across the border in what was then India and is now Pakistan.”

“Iran's most formidable modern leader, Reza Shah Pahlavi, was obsessed with the idea of building a steel mill, but in 1941, soon after he assembled all the components, Allied armies invaded Iran, and the project had to be abandoned.”

“The East Turkestan Islamic Movement, named for an old Uighur name for Xinjiang, is a shadowy group that operates largely out of Afghanistan and Pakistan and is devoted to expelling the Chinese Communist Party from northwestern China.”

“Our commitment to Afghanistan is a long-term one. We put a huge amount of resources into trying to make sure there is peace in that country, a huge amount of development assistance, a huge amount of political support for the government.”

“I think all of us who have been in Afghanistan on the ground multiple times know that what we're doing there on the ground is just not sustainable.”