Lakhdar Brahimi Quotes

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

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.

However, it does seem now that the international community, more importantly the powers that have influence, and, even more importantly, Afghanistan’s neighbors realize that it is high time that they work together, and not against one another.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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 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.

It also seems that the Afghans themselves want to avail themselves of this opportunity and all recognize that the UN is uniquely qualified to help bring them together.

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.

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.

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.

Afghanistan is a land-locked country.

There again, that is a fundamental principle: no two situations are alike.

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.