But in Afghanistan, the general rule was that since you were fighting the Taliban, which was not a lawful government force, the Geneva Conventions did not apply. And that led to a lot of excesses in Afghanistan, excesses like Abu… — Yaroslav Trofimov Copy Share Image
If you are an eighteen or nineteen-year-old with little education, as is often the case, and you're put in charge of many, many people… — Yaroslav Trofimov Copy Share Image
The American official was trying to talk about aid and development projects and finally a local tribal chief got up and said, "Even if… — Yaroslav Trofimov Copy Share Image
Even if you look at Iran, those campaigners for human rights there, they don't want to have anything to do with America, because they… — Yaroslav Trofimov Copy Share Image
But in Afghanistan, the general rule was that since you were fighting the Taliban, which was not a lawful government force, the Geneva Conventions… — Yaroslav Trofimov Copy Share Image
Now as to the behavior of the soldiers: occupations always corrupt the occupiers. — Yaroslav Trofimov Copy Share Image
I think the behavior of the troops has been a huge factor in the rise of the insurgency and in the rise of the… — Yaroslav Trofimov Copy Share Image
In a country like Iraq with its culture of blood feuds - is that the more locals are killed, the more motivation there is… — Yaroslav Trofimov Copy Share Image
In the occupation in Afghanistan, there are tragedies as well. It's not as bad as in Iraq because there are fewer American troops. But,… — Yaroslav Trofimov Copy Share Image
Because no matter how much money we spend there [in Iraq], as long as the people there see this money as... as assistance that… — Yaroslav Trofimov Copy Share Image
The other problem is that the priority of many soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan is operational security: not getting killed. Now that is a… — Yaroslav Trofimov Copy Share Image
I did some embedded stuff. And if you are embedded, the only things you see are what the soldiers see, and if the people… — Yaroslav Trofimov Copy Share Image
So our own actions sometimes have undermined our safety, in our efforts to fight terrorism. The only way this can work is if we… — Yaroslav Trofimov Copy Share Image
![“I think the behavior of the troops has been a huge factor in the rise of the insurgency and in the rise of the anti-American feelings there[in Iraq].” quote by Yaroslav Trofimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/4eb/yaroslav-trofimov-28338_anti-american_i-think-the-behavior-of-the-troops-has-b_653272.jpg)
![“Because no matter how much money we spend there [in Iraq], as long as the people there see this money as... as assistance that is unwelcome, as long as they continue to be humiliated in their own country by us... I mean, the future looked bleak, and the future after that was in fact very bleak.” quote by Yaroslav Trofimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/326/yaroslav-trofimov-28338_assistance_because-no-matter-how-much-money-we-spen_1119407.jpg)
