She would grab whatever she could -a look , a whisper , a moan - to salvage from perishing , to perserve. But time is most unforgivving of fires , and she couldn't , in the end , save it all .

For many people in the west, Afghanistan is synonymous with the Soviet war and the Taliban. I wanted to remind people that Afghans had managed to live in peaceful anonymity for decades, that the history of the Afghans in the twentieth century has been largely pacific and harmonious.

it always hurts more to have and lose than to not have in the first place.

Don't be afraid to tell the truth. It's better to hurt someone by truth than to make them happy by lies.

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

Literary fiction is kept alive by women. Women read more fiction, period.

What good is regret? It brings back nothing. What we have lost is irretrievable.