“The greatest failure is that we haven’t really built a state that holds the country together. There is a state. It’s a very flimsy, ramshackle, corrupt thing and most people recognize it and see it as such. And I guess the big question we all face, as the Americans and the rest of NATO draws down is: Is this ramshackle, hodgepodge thing that we’ve built called the Afghan state – is it going to hold together? Is it going to stand on its own when we leave? Boy, I don’t know. I don’t know if I’d put my money on that or for how long. That’s a very risky proposition.”
— The New Yorker’s Dexter Filkins, on the future of Afghanistan
(Source: nprfreshair)
