I wanted to write about Afghanistan before the Soviet war because that is largely a forgotten period in modern Afghan history.

One time, when I was very little, I climbed a tree and ate these green, sour apples. My stomach swelled and became hard like a drum, it hurt a lot. Mother said that if I'd just waited for the apples to ripen, I wouldn't have become sick. So now, whenever I really want something, I try to remember what she said about the apples.

In the end, the world always wins. That's just the way of things.

Perhaps this is just punishment for those who have been heartless, to understand only when nothing can be undone.

There will be no floating waway. There will be no other reality tonight.

He knew I'd seen everything in that alley, that I'd stood there and done nothing. He knew that I'd betrayed him and yet he was rescuing me once again, maybe for the last time.

You have think tanks like the widely respected Atlantic Council that have published reports in the past year that have called Afghanistan a failing state.