Lakhdar Brahimi Quotes (61 Quotes)

Afghanistan is a land-locked country.

I am certain that the people of Afghanistan are very happy tonight and see in this constitution a new source of hope. ... The time for jihad is finished.

The elections scheduled to take place by January 2005 are the most important milestone in this process. Until that time, any Iraqi governing body that exists will be less than fully representative,

Not much, I'm sorry to say, because my father passed away when I was very young. I was eleven, and my mother was a simple, uneducated peasant.

There is an element of luck, there is an element of trial and error, sometimes you fail, sometimes you succeed. It's not as beautifully simple as it may seem when we are talking about it.

To leave Afghanistan as a playground for terrorists and adventurers was simply not possible anymore.

Be modest, be respectful of others, try to understand.

The agenda is to take the necessary steps as fast as possible with as many short cuts as the Afghans will allow us to (put together) a provisional administration to take charge of Kabul on behalf of the whole people of Afghanistan, ... We've asked a number of countries and the United Arab Emirates was the first one to kindly say they would welcome a meeting there and we are extremely grateful to them, but we are discussing with the Afghans to see where it is more convenient for them to hold this meeting.

The third point is that for some time the UN has been talking about helping Afghanistan in the reconstruction of the country but there has never been any real commitment by the international community to provide resources for that.

In Afghanistan, the first time around, from 1997 to 1999 when I gave up, that is where I had seen these foreign players do their worst.

Several million people inside and outside Afghanistan are destitute and desperately in need of help.

won't be achieved by weapons alone.

But I knew that what had happened was an eye-opener not only to the United States but also to Pakistan, who realized that after what has happened on the 11th of September, it was simply impossible to continue to play those games in Afghanistan.

What again I tell my people is that no matter how much you know, it's never enough. You will always discover, after the fact, that you've missed something.

Somebody was asking me the other day - President Bush is now talking about freedom for the Arab world. I say, well, that's great. I was talking about that fifty years ago.

The Iraqi authorities, the Coalition Provisional Authority will really need to see how they can provide security for us if they want us to come back. It's useless to bring in large numbers of people if they are confined to bunkers.

The people we have met are at least asking themselves questions, at the very, very least. I think they are looking for a consensus.

Iraq is a country that has been invaded. It's not a failing state that you want to help. It's a country that was functioning good or bad, with a horrible dictator, but you have invaded.

There is a story which is not being told strongly enough of the Afghan employees of the UN inside the country who are saving hundreds of thousands of lives everyday by their bravery and nobody talks of them.

If you are talking about terrorism, you need to sit down and understand what is making these people put dynamite around their waists and blow themselves up.

Of course the UN brings in a lot of moral authority.

At times one feels that what is being said in the West is that the fact that you are a Muslim predisposes you to this blind, stupid terrorism.

People now realize that globalization is not only for the multi-nationals and the circulation of money.

This incident, which follows similar incidents, adds to a sense of insecurity and fear in the country,

Though it will certainly not be easy, we do believe that it shall be possible to identify, by the end of May, a group of people respected and acceptable to Iraqis across the country, to form this caretaker government.

With all the decisions they have taken lately, they don't seem to be taking any decisions that are right concerning the work of the humanitarian community in Afghanistan,

For the past ten years the UN has been trying to help the Afghans end their wars against one another, but we have been unsuccessful.

You are dealing with people who have taken the responsibility of killing their own because they think that they are right, they think that they are serving the interests of their people. They not going to give that up easily, just because you've shown up.

Bremer is the dictator of Iraq. He had the money. He has the signature. Nothing happens without his agreement in this country.

I think they want support from the U.N.. They think the U.N. has a role to play in helping them understand these problems and also in working out compromises and concerns amongst themselves.

The events of September 11 and what has happened since have made people understand that even a small, distant and far away country like Afghanistan cannot be left to break up into anarchy and chaos without consequences for the whole world.

But you've got to understand what the other guy is about, even if at the end of the process you decide that there is no ground with this man or woman except to fight them.

In Rwanda that genocide happened because the international community and the Security Council refused to give, again, another 5000 troops which would have cost, I don't know, maybe fifty, a hundred, million dollars.

The mandate you go with is intimidating and also is a source of respect that you gain, because you have come with this mandate from the United Nations.

You who are taking this responsibility must show unprecedented courage and leadership. You must place the interests of your people first above all other concerns only then will this process, this attempt to break cycle of misery and destitution conflict and violence stand a chance of success,

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.

In the globalized world that is ours, maybe we are moving towards a global village, but that global village brings in a lot of different people, a lot of different ideas, lots of different backgrounds, lots of different aspirations.

But you are absolutely right that when the international community decides to help in a meaningful manner a country like Afghanistan, then coordination between the various actors that are involved in these processes is very, very difficult indeed.

We think that there are millions of people at risk, not because of the bombing campaign...but because of the drought, because of the civil war that has been going on for a long time, ... This humanitarian activity must continue.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has asked the Northern Alliance to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law and treat these questions with as much humanity as possible, ... elsewhere, everywhere.

You have a weak government or no government or several factions claiming to be government. You have a vacuum which is very favorable ground on which drugs and terrorism will grow,

The sooner a credible Iraqi government is in place to lead the way, the better, especially because the absence of such a sovereign government is part of the problem in the first place,

men and women known for their honesty, integrity and competence.

There is also a natural and very, very strong empathy with the underdog, with people who have suffered, people who have been pushed around by foreigners in particular, but also by their own people.

I would be reluctant to speak on his behalf of what he has been convinced of or not, but I think we had a very, very good discussion. I listened to him very very carefully, and I hope -- I believe -- he also listened to me with attention. There was, I think, a rapport that has been established.

I think a failed state is the responsibility of the people who have made that state fail, and those are generally the people of that country.

There is an expression now that is commonly used about these so-called internal conflicts which are not really internal, because they have connections to the outside world.

On the contrary. You see, the British - if there is one foreign force that would have left mixed souvenirs in Afghanistan, it's the British.

I think we are pointing out to them that perhaps the evaluations of the time that is needed, the conditions that need to be fulfilled, are not accurate, and they are listening to us,

A fly cannot go in unless it stops somewhere; therefore weapons, fuel, food, money will not go to Afghanistan unless the neighbors of Afghanistan are working, are cooperating, either being themselves the origin or the transit.