The Buddhas had to be destroyed by the Taliban to get the world thinking about Afghanistan.

If I make two films in a year, they'll be different. This is my style - I can't have just one way.

I myself had to grow a longer beard and Afghan clothes. I was in danger of being kidnapped by smugglers, though I didn't know it at the time.

Rumi, who is one of the greatest Persian poets, said that the truth was a mirror in the hands of God. It fell, and broke into pieces. Everybody took a piece of it, and they looked at it and thought they had the truth.

But also, there are no films being made about Afghanistan.

Because there is so little room for expression otherwise, a lot of people love cinema because they find it a way of expressing themselves.

I was in jail four and a half years. When I came out, I continued the same struggle against injustice, but instead of using weapons, I began to use art and cinema.