The job of an elected president is to overcome the past and change the playing field.

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.

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.

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.

Our current administration is a patchwork - some from the French, some from the Swiss, the Turks, the Ottomans; then the Russians came; now we have a global presence. We need to create a system that is organic and can function for the whole state. Currently, foreign policy here is domestic policy.

Deadlines concentrate the mind. But deadlines should not be dogmas.

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.