Ashraf Ghani

“The first principle of tackling corruption is that you do not engage in it and you have the will to confront it.”

“When we get peace in Afghanistan, we'll go to New Zealand to learn best practices for raising sheep. We'll go to Switzerland and study hydroelectric projects.”

“We must focus on our biggest enemy, poverty. There is no single-state solution to it, and that is a noble goal.”

“Organizations are accumulations of historical debris. They are not consciously thought. So when you ask the Education Ministry 'What's your core function and who's your client?' they laugh at you. When I say that the client is the Afghan child - and the Ministry is an instrument, not the goal - it's greeted with shock. It's a new idea.”

“Sovereignty of Afghanistan must be accepted categorically by Pakistan so that we can move forward.”

“Afghanistan's geographical location gives it the opportunity to become one of the biggest transit routes in the region. It can connect Southern, Eastern and Central Asia to the Middle East.”

“Crisis for others is a source of despair. For me, it's an opportunity to bring reform.”

“We've had a difficult legacy of 40 years, and cleaning up is not going to be a one day job. But we are engaged in a systematic effort, we have not allowed formation of new militia groups, and we are reforming the local police systematically so that there won't be abuse.”

“Peace is not a luxury. Peace is a necessity.”

“President Karzai was an accidental president. There was no paradigm for the conditions he faced, because no one could have imagined 9/11. He had to improvise under very difficult conditions to hold this country together.”

“You would think that the U.S. government would not think that American firms needed subsidizing to function in developing countries, provide advice, but they do.”

“There's a Darwinian struggle amongst terror groups for hegemony. Da'esh has broken out of the pack because Al-Qaeda and the rest rendered allegiance to Mullah Omar.”

“Particularly the mark for success for us would be that a woman can not only walk in the streets of every major city, but can go from one province to another without any hindrance.”

“We need to get a stable Afghanistan that can ensure the security of Americans, Europeans, and others on the one hand, but more fundamentally our own democratic rights and institutions.”

“Every global leader that I have seen has at least agreed on one point: I do have the world's most difficult job. But I hope to make it easier for my successor.”

“The privileged elites are part of the globalization moment that we live in.”

“Politicians have become extraordinarily conservative, but our times require imagination and bold action.”

“Time is not a friend.”

“My entire life has been guided by a sense of equality, equality for loved ones.”

“The key demand for me from the public across the 34 provinces is to transform the state into an instrument of the rule of law, transform the economy into a productive system and change the education system.”