Sam Zarifi Quotations

These events give the lie to the king's repeated statements about his firm belief in democracy. If he wants his public commitments to fundamental liberties to be taken seriously, he has to show that his forces will respect basic human rights standards.

The vigilantes operate completely outside the law, and this situation places civilians more deeply in the path of danger.

The London Conference should not be an occasion for celebratory backslapping, but for rolling up sleeves and making up for past weak performance. The gains made by Afghans are not sustainable without greater international support and commitment.

Lots of Afghans are disappointed and cynical because they feel like people who perpetrated serious human rights abuses have been allowed back in the parliament.

The US detain people, keep them for a while and then release them without charges. It sometimes take two months for the family to know where the detainees are.

It contains a barely veiled threat of collective punishment. Making such a threat is a violation of the Geneva conventions and other laws of war.

There's a growing feeling of an opportunity lost.

Voters had to choose between the unknown and the notorious.

The Maoists can voice their opposition to these elections, but that does not mean they are free to kill those who choose to participate.

The success of the Conference should be judged by how much donors commit to do for the security and development of the Afghan people, not their own political agendas. The real measure of security and development in Afghanistan is not the number of foreign troops, but whether people feel safe enough to go to the market, to travel at night to seek medical care, or to send their children to school.