Top 104 Quotes & Sayings by Ashraf Ghani

This hand is free of blood, and this hand is free from the stain of corruption.

My father's mother really had a profound influence on me. She literally began her day with an hour of reading. But the most fundamental impact was education.

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.

If al-Qaida, all apologies to Microsoft for the analogy, is Windows 1, Daish is Windows 5.

Money is not capital in most of the developing countries. It's just cash. Because it lacks the institutional, organizational, managerial forms to turn it into capital.

Afghanistan has the capacity to become an industrialized country because of its mining and agriculture sectors. We can also create jobs for educated men and women by investing in information technology.

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.

Mecca and Medinah is a very special place in the hearts of every Muslim but particularly for every Afghan.

Peace cannot come without the government of Afghanistan speaking directly to the Taliban or the Taliban talking directly to us.

Afghanistan is moving to really becoming an export-oriented country.

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.

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.

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.

Thank God there has been no recurrence of 9/11. It is not because of luck - it is because of mass sacrifice and effort.

If we looked in the world of 1945 and looked at the map of capitalist economies and democratic polities, they were the rare exception, not the norm.

I want to differentiate between stability and security: Stability comes from the hearts of people and acceptance of the judicial system. Security comes from the barrel of a gun and the threat of the use of force.

Afghanistan fortunately is one of the richest countries in terms of water, mineral resources, location and human capital.

You cannot have good terrorists and bad terrorists.

Afghanistan is developing its infrastructure to come up with a new direction of connectivity through energy transmission and modernisation of transport sector in an effort to cater to needs of modern day age.

If election is your goal, you're never going to engage in reform. Reform has to be your goal. Election is the means. You run for office in order to do something, not in order to perpetuate yourself.

I cannot tolerate immorality.

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

No power in the country can dissolve the government.

I have a strange - because there's no other way probably of describing it - uh, temper. I'm a very difficult taskmaster. I don't wait.

Peace is not a luxury. Peace is a necessity.

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

You know, America has profoundly shaped me, and I have two American children and unbelievably rich friendships so it will always be a source of joy and good memories.

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.

We are not a battlefield and we will not allow anyone to use our territory against any of our neighbour, but we will not allow our neighbours to use our territory this way either.

Economics taught in most of the elite universities are practically useless in my context. My country is dominated by drug economy and a mafia. Textbook economics does not work in my context, and I have very few recommendations from anybody as to how to put together a legal economy.

You can get together, you can talk as much as you want, but if there's not a decision-making process - that's where democracy really matters.

At the end of any peace deal, the decision-maker will be the government of Afghanistan.

In 2001, we didn't have an army; we had remnants of a dissolved army that had no hope. Our generals had literally become busboys.

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.

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.

We develop sentiments that we are only going to work with people like us. But you don't build up a nation by working with people like you. You overcome a history of conflict by reaching out to people very much unlike you.

As long as I am president, the rights of women will be protected.

When I talk to another Afghan I am his or her equal and that moves me to tears.

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

Time is not a friend.

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

The future is Afghanistan.

Pathology by Daesh is distinctively to swallow its opponents, to frighten the population. In that regard, the threat is very real.

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

By terrorising the people, the Taliban have sown deep doubts about the government.

President Truman made his name by looking into contracting. And that's how integrity within the military procurement started in the United States.

Deadlines concentrate the mind. But deadlines should not be dogmas.

I went to Pakistan; I engaged in peace. If a hand extended is not shaken, what are you supposed to do?

Afghanistan cannot be a burden on the international community and it has to become an asset.

My central objective is, turn Afghanistan's location into a greater asset. Central Asia is becoming Afghanistan's major trading partner. The vision of connectivity is really important.

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.

There's no place for mob justice in Afghanistan.

President Obama called me on his last day in office and said the only person who never asked him for anything was me.

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

Self-reliance is not just words, but deeds.

Middle Eastern Muslim countries are not only important for Afghanistan due to common culture and faith, but also because of economic benefits.

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.

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.

President Trump is engaging and if you get your points across then he asks you questions.