Hamid Karzai is the current and first democratically elected President of Afghanistan (since December 7, 2004). Since December 2001, Hamid Karzai had been Chairman of the Transitional Administration and been Interim President from 2002.

Message to Taliban

• Today, while celebrating the jihad victory, we once again invite those who have sided with aliens because of seduction against their nation, to give up sedition and evil and join peaceful life.
  • Karzai offers peace, Taliban free Frenchwoman Apr 28, 2007
• We have no other choice, we have no power to stop the [U.S.] planes, if we could, if I could ... we would stop them and bring them down.
  • November 26, 2008 http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINISL40856620081126

Unsourced

• On my graduation there was a party by the junior students, and I was given a hair brush as a gift — if I take off my hat, you know what I mean.

• When you see on the news or read in the newspaper that so many people were killed in places far away, do not let these numbers become mere abstractions to you. These are real people, like you and I. They are families, friends; they have pain, they have grief.

• We must not turn away when we hear the cries of the hungry. We must not stand by when we see the killing and terrorizing of the innocent. We should not wait until hundreds and, in some cases, thousands of our fellow human beings have died as occurred in Afghanistan, before we act.

• Every time we ignore the suffering of others or stand by and watch, we do not only act against our own interests but we violate a part of our humanity.

• Suffering in other parts of the world will continue to undermine your security and prosperity unless you seek to address it.

• If you don't fight these terrorist here ,you will have to fight them in your capitals in Europe and America and where not.

• Lets admit that today's terrorists are a mutation of our past mistakes. We must learn our lessons. We must learn that using and nurturing extremism as a tool of government policy has never yielded the betterment of any nation, and it never will.

• We Afghans have the right to stand with full dignity and self-confidence in front of the people of the world and say that this immortal phoenix, this beloved Afghanistan, once again rose from the ashes of invasion and subjugation; we have the right to declare to all those who aspire the destruction of our soil, that this country will never vanquish.

• Democracy as a system of government may indeed be unprecedented in Afghanistan, but democracy as a way of life, a set of principles and values, is deeply embedded in our society.

• Not very far from here stood two towers that symbolized freedom, prosperity and progress. Half way around the globe stood two magnificent Buddha's that represented a culture of tolerance and a nation with a rich history. These symbols have been linked together through the global scourge of terrorism. Terror may have demolished these physical structures, however it strengthens the willpower of the international community never to let down the spirit and determination with which these icons were built.

• Let me tell the world that we Afghans today stand with full dignity and declare to the world that we are rising from the ashes of invasion and will live forever……

• Democracy plays wonders.

• We should deal with terrorism wherever it occurs. Wherever they are trained.

• On behalf of the Afghan people, I pledge today that we will be a dependable asset to the security of the region and of the world.

• Any effort to divide Afghanistan ethnically or weaken it will create exactly the same things in the neighboring countries. All the countries in this neighborhood have the same ethnic groups that we have, so they should know that it is a different ball game this time

• The past is gone. We were unaware: The Soviets came, invaded us and we went out of Afghanistan to defend our country. We defended our country and that was right, but we made a mistake by leaving our country. It was one of the biggest mistakes we made, leaving the country.

• The United States, Pakistan, Iran and everybody should know that this time Afghans will not become refugees. I would be one of those Afghans who would not become a refugee again.

• It has to be very, very clear. That is why I am talking so clear. This is my conscience speaking, the conscience of an Afghan person.

• We are bloody determined. It is not going to be Pakistan playing the Pashtun, non-Pashtun game in Afghanistan. It is not going to be Iran playing this or that game or any other country. We can play the same game with a lot more historical power, with a lot more power in our history than others can. They should know that very well.

• In the past we suffered alone. This time everybody will suffer with us.

• I Would Rather Fail and Be Honorable

• Afghanistan was a dilapidated extremely poor country.It neither bought from the west or the rest of the world nor had anything to sell to them. So Afghanistan in terms of the economics of today and in terms of the ways the world work today was irrelevant to the world. A country that doesn´t buy from you and that does not sell to you. The society that does not have much to sell to you or to buy from you is not relevant to the consumer world of today.

• politics without morality is close to sin

• My job here is to try to move forward, keeping this very delicate jar of the Afghan peace process and reconstruction and institution building in my hands through troubled waters. Through minefields, through stormy conditions, through areas that don't have proper light and keep this jar intact and safe, and take it to the distant place. Along the way I may have to do things that some in the international community may not like. But I have my Afghan judgment and that is what I use. And that Afghan judgment does not need to be understood by the international community.

• Now if the poppy income for Afghanistan is between $2 billion to $2.5 billion, when it reaches international markets it reaches $50 billion. So where is the rest of the money? Who benefits more? There is a lot of difference between 2.5 and 50. Where is that $48 billion going? And do you think that $48 billion will allow us to destroy poppy in Afghanistan?

• My problem is that I am perhaps too much of a democrat for this time of the country's life. If you need a dictator, then go to the Afghan people. Let them elect a dictator. I am not one of those.

• I am burning out. When I feel burned out I am immediately reminded of Frost's great poem: "The woods are lovely, dark and deep/ But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep/ and miles to go before I sleep." We have a lot of miles to go. A lot of miles to go. I think no Afghan president, even after my term is complete, will have an option on this account. I have to work very hard. You can't imagine how destroyed this country was. You can't imagine how dispirited this country had become. How miserable it had become. Unbelievable. When you go to the country, to the mountains where I was fighting the Taliban, I came across families and people who had nothing on earth. Nothing. And if they survived it worked. We have to provide them a better life. It will take time, it will take effort, and it will take very hard work. And no vacations.

• Terrorism sees, in the prosperity of the Afghan people, its ultimate defeat.

• There is no doubt that people are angry. When a family is hit by a bomb and I am the president here with the responsibility -- when a suicide bomb takes places and murders the people of this nation -- I am the president of this country and it is my responsibility to bring peace to these people.

About Hamid Karzai

• I don't know anyone who is more admired and respected in the international community than President Karzai, for his strength, for his wisdom and for his courage to lead this country, first in defeat of the Taliban and now a democratic and unified Afghanistan. And I can tell you I am with foreign ministers and with heads of state all over the world. I sit in the councils of NATO. I sit with the EU. I sit with people all over the world and there is great admiration for your president and also for what the Afghan people are doing here.
  • condoleezza Rice, June 28, 2006 http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2006/68396.htm