The country [Afghanistan] faces enormous problems. There is a violent insurgency hampering the rule of law and developmental efforts.

Not a word passes between us, not because we have nothing to say, but because we don't have to say anything

She is furious with herself for her own stupidity. Opening herself up like this, voluntarily, to a lifetime of worry and anguish. It was madness. Sheer lunacy. A spectacularly foolish and baseless faith, against enormous odds, that a world you do not control will not take from you the one thing you cannot bear to lose. Faith that the world will not destroy you.

It's wrong what they say about the past, I've learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out.

I have been a fan of comic books since childhood.

I think the emancipation of women in Afghanistan has to come from inside, through Afghans themselves, gradually, over time.

cruelty and benevolence are but shades of the same colour.