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We don't have warlords. We have strongmen. They control provinces with military forces. These men at one time controlled territory they have now been transformed into businessmen and politicians. Today our national security forces are built to control the provinces.

Ashraf Ghani

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Ashraf Ghani
Age: 75
Born: 1949
Born: May 19
Anthropologist
Economist
Politician
President Of Afghanistan
University Teacher
Writer
Logar Province
Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai
Ashraf Ahmad
Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai
Security
Territory
Control
Controlled
Today
Politicians
Men
Forces
Warlords
Time
National
Businessmen
Politician
Provinces
Built
Businessman
Military
Transformed

More quotes by Ashraf Ghani

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The bureaucratic culture that we [Afghanistan] have inherited is an obstacle. Hierarchies may be extremely efficient for dealing with certain events, but they are not quick in responding to global, flexible networks.
Ashraf Ghani
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We need to create jobs for 300,000 youth graduating from high school in the next three years. We need to produce growth so we can have an economic system that can turn our natural wealth into a productive system. We need services, because poverty reduction cannot take place without effective citizenship.
Ashraf Ghani
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There's no place for mob justice in Afghanistan.
Ashraf Ghani
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Salaries are a huge area of corruption.
Ashraf Ghani
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The most significant thing is public participation. That assures the Afghan public that our promises are not empty.
Ashraf Ghani
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We live in an interconnected world, and you cannot prevent people from leaving. What you need to do is to create opportunities. At the same time, people are also coming back.
Ashraf Ghani
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The national unity government is a necessity in this country and I am happy to serve it. We have negotiated for months to create a government, but Belgium also went for a year without one.
Ashraf Ghani
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Crisis for others is a source of despair. For me, it's an opportunity to bring reform. I owe this country a debt I cannot repay.
Ashraf Ghani
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Do not ever threaten an Afghan with violence. We will rise as one and we will face every threat the way we have taken on thousands of previous armies and conquerors.
Ashraf Ghani
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Economics taught in most of the elite universities are practically useless in my context. My country [Afghanistan] is dominated by drug economy and a mafia textbook economics does not work in my context.
Ashraf Ghani
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It's fair to say average Americans think that the average Afghan doesn't want American troops in their country.
Ashraf Ghani
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We have sacrificed and we have endured extreme hardship, but we have maintained the key goal - we have denied the enemy its main objective of creating two political geographies in this country through the all-out war which has been unleashed against us. If we had a first-rate air force, the nature of the conflict would be completely different.
Ashraf Ghani
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When windows shatter through a bomb, we will repair it next week because we are Afghans. That's the spirit.
Ashraf Ghani
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The economy is the silent elephant in the room.
Ashraf Ghani
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People are easily shocked when their routine is disrupted and their ease of travel is restricted. We are dealing with a complete new face of terrorism - killing for the sake of killing.
Ashraf Ghani
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As the leader of a country, you are not free to enjoy the luxury of such feelings. The Afghan people want peace, which requires persistence. We are determined to defend our country, and the whole region and the entire world understands the justice of our cause and the principled way in which we have engaged in it.
Ashraf Ghani
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The youth are hurt. Our majority are youth, under 30. They have no hope. They don't get jobs.
Ashraf Ghani
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The commitment to civil liberty is going to be reasserted strongly. But the concept of liberty is under attack, and our definition of insecurity, security and threats will change fundamentally. The depth of the attack on liberty will be felt painfully.
Ashraf Ghani
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I don't want anything for myself. I want everything for Afghan. I worked pro bono for 13 years. I didn't hesitate for one moment after 9/11 to resign from my position of comfort at the World Bank in New York and to come and serve.
Ashraf Ghani
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It [terrorism] happened because intelligence, leadership and police failures made it possible.
Ashraf Ghani