The point about democracy is not that it delivers legitimate, effective, prosperous rule of law. It's not that it guarantees peace with itself or wit….

The question shouldn't be what we ought to do, but what we can do..

I left things out - my motivations, my history, my emotional responses - because I am not good at understanding them or writing about them. I tried a….

The Afghan government is much better informed, much more intrusive and ambitious than I had guessed. There are amazing craftsmen in Kabul but few des….

Democracy is not simply a question of structures. It is a state of mind. It is an activity..

I had been walking one afternoon in Scotland and thought: Why don't I just keep going? There was, I said, a magic in leaving a line of footprints str….

I have never met a villager who does not want a vote..

Change can only come from local citizens and politicians - it cannot be imposed by well-meaning foreigners - not least because a society like Afghani….

The world isnt one way or another. Things can be changed very, very rapidly by someone with sufficient confidence, sufficient knowledge and sufficien….

In the mountains, travelers were reduced to the speed of men on foot. Here, the ancient English sense of journey, 'a day's travel' (French journee), ….

Religions . . . seem to avoid mountain passes..

I do a lot of work with policymakers, but how much effect am I having? It’s like they’re coming in and saying to you, ‘I’m going to drive my car off ….

I'd like to come back to the West eventually. In the end abroad I am always a stranger, active politics in particular is not accessible to me and alt….

I found incredible kindness, dignity and hospitality in both Iraq and Afghanistan - am only alive because of it - the most worthwhile lesson of a twe….

This idea that failure is not an option: It makes failure invisible, inconceivable and inevitable..

If democracy is to be rebuilt … it is necessary not just for the public to learn to trust their politicians, but for the politicians to learn to trus….

Despite the dubious statistics … democracy is a thing of value for which we should be fighting..