--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: They [Afghans] understand the difficult…" description: "\"They [Afghans] understand the difficult truth that their best hope of freedom lies in a temporary experience of imperial rule.\" — Michael Ignatieff" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0c8/michael-ignatieff-3146_afghans_they-afghans-understand-the-difficult-tr_2927666.jpg" --- # They \[Afghans\] understand the difficult truth that their… ![“They [Afghans] understand the difficult truth that their best hope of freedom lies in a temporary experience of imperial rule.” quote by Michael Ignatieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0c8/michael-ignatieff-3146_afghans_they-afghans-understand-the-difficult-tr_2927666.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0c8/michael-ignatieff-3146_afghans_they-afghans-understand-the-difficult-tr_2927666.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0c8/michael-ignatieff-3146_afghans_they-afghans-understand-the-difficult-tr_2927666.jpg) > “They \[Afghans\] understand the difficult truth that their best hope of freedom lies in a temporary experience of imperial rule.” [Michael Ignatieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ignatieff/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Afghans see temporary imperial rule as a path to lasting freedom. **In simple terms:** Imperial rule may lead to freedom. Key Takeaway Consider complex liberation paths. Themes politics freedom imperialism Mood analytical cautious Type political philosophical When to use this quote - foreign policy - nation building - human rights Key Concepts historical analysis strategic thinking Questions to Reflect On - What are the risks of temporary rule? - How can lasting freedom be ensured? A Different Perspective Shortterm rule can cause backlash. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Afghans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/afghans/) [Afghans Understand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/afghans-understand-4298089/) [Difficult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/difficult/) [Freedom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freedom/) [Freedom Lies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freedom-lies-262682/) [Hope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hope/) [Hope Freedom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hope-freedom-1345038/) [Hoping for the best](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hoping-for-the-best/) [Imperial Rule](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imperial-rule-3399587/) [Lying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lying/) [Temporary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/temporary/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) ## Related quotes > [All empires have depended on local legitimacy and local collaboration; they are not based primarily on coercion. 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No pride…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-peterffy/i-grew-up-in-a-socialist-country-and-i-have-seen-what-that-does-to/) [Thomas Peterffy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-peterffy/) > [I think that nobody - certainly in this world - can say that they don't have the human denial element about them or fear…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juan-pablo-di-pace/i-think-that-nobody-certainly-in-this-world-can-say-that-they-don-t/) [Juan Pablo Di Pace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juan-pablo-di-pace/) ## More by Michael Ignatieff > [The Only cure for nihilism is for liberal democratic societies - their electorates, their judiciary, and their political leadership- to insist that force is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/the-only-cure-for-nihilism-is-for-liberal-democratic-societies-their/) [Michael Ignatieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ignatieff/) > [What really matters is getting new people in. 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Harry Truman wasn't.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/some-of-our-finest-leaders-were-not-intellectuals-at-all-and-i-admire/) [Michael Ignatieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ignatieff/) > [If you get the access to see history happen, do you understand the history when it does happen? And the answer to that question…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/if-you-get-the-access-to-see-history-happen-do-you-understand-the/) [Michael Ignatieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ignatieff/) > [I have been a journalist, off and on, since I was 17. 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It puts the question of how far…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/liberal-democracy-has-endured-because-its-institutions-are-designed/) [Michael Ignatieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ignatieff/) > [An intellectual may be interested in ideas and policies for their own sake, but a politician's interest is exclusively in the question of whether…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/an-intellectual-may-be-interested-in-ideas-and-policies-for-their-own/) [Michael Ignatieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ignatieff/) [Explore all 138 Michael Ignatieff quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ignatieff/) ## More Afghans quotes > [ Our \[Afghanistan\] main problem is education. Over 90 percent of our population is uneducated. So what can you expect? The terrorists come from Syria,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/najibullah-quraishi/our-afghanistan-main-problem-is-education-over-90-percent-of-our/) [Najibullah Quraishi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/najibullah-quraishi/) > [“By not burning their poppy fields to the ground but instead maintaining a security umbrella that international development agencies could safely work under as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jake-wood/by-not-burning-their-poppy-fields-to-the-ground-but-instead/) [Jake Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jake-wood/) > [“The Hindi kid would soon learn what the British learned earlier in the century, and what the Russians would eventually learn by the late…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/khaled-hosseini/the-hindi-kid-would-soon-learn-what-the-british-learned-earlier-in/) [Khaled Hosseini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/khaled-hosseini/) > [“In Our Villages - You killed thousands by thousands, after each thousand, You are killing another one thousand.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abed-rahmani/in-our-villages-you-killed-thousands-by-thousands-after-each-thousand/) [Abed Rahmani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abed-rahmani/) > [Obviously it is right that the Afghans take responsibility for their own future in the end, but they need to know and feel that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-blair/obviously-it-is-right-that-the-afghans-take-responsibility-for-their/) [Tony Blair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-blair/) > [A sea-green sky: lamps blossoming white. This is marginal land: fields of strung wire, of treadless tyres in ditches, fridges dead on their backs,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilary-mantel/a-sea-green-sky-lamps-blossoming-white-this-is-marginal-land-fields/) [Hilary Mantel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilary-mantel/) > [“Take two Afghans who've never met, put them in a room for ten minutes, and they'll figure out how they're related.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/khaled-hosseini/take-two-afghans-who-ve-never-met-put-them-in-a-room-for-ten-minutes/) [Khaled Hosseini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/khaled-hosseini/) > [The majority of Afghans do not see the Americans as foreign occupiers who must be defeated. 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We shouldn't be swatting at hornets' nests we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-goetzman/no-afghans-as-far-as-we-know-have-been-involved-in-terrorist-acts/) [Gary Goetzman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-goetzman/) > [The people suffering most from the Taliban were Afghans.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/the-people-suffering-most-from-the-taliban-were-afghans/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [If you take a look at Afghan history, usually they have united to defend against an outside enemy, and as soon as that's accomplished,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-eagleburger/if-you-take-a-look-at-afghan-history-usually-they-have-united-to/) [Lawrence Eagleburger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawrence-eagleburger/) > [Undoubtedly the Afghans must be, by our standards, the best-looking people in the world. They have everything; height, proportions, carriage, features and complexion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dervla-murphy/undoubtedly-the-afghans-must-be-by-our-standards-the-best-looking/) [Dervla Murphy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dervla-murphy/) > [The Afghans themselves say that if you put two Afghans in a room, you get three factions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/p-j-o-rourke/the-afghans-themselves-say-that-if-you-put-two-afghans-in-a-room-you/) [P. J. O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/p-j-o-rourke/) > ['In the nineteenth century, we beat the British more than once,' Afghans often told me. 'In the twentieth century, we beat the Russians. In…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-t-vollmann/in-the-nineteenth-century-we-beat-the-british-more-than-once-afghans/) [William T. Vollmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-t-vollmann/) [Browse all 45 Afghans quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/afghans/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "They [Afghans] understand the difficult truth that their best hope of freedom lies in a temporary experience of imperial rule.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michael Ignatieff" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/they-afghans-understand-the-difficult-truth-that-their-best-hope-of/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Afghans" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/they-afghans-understand-the-difficult-truth-that-their-best-hope-of/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0c8/michael-ignatieff-3146_afghans_they-afghans-understand-the-difficult-tr_2927666.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0c8/michael-ignatieff-3146_afghans_they-afghans-understand-the-difficult-tr_2927666.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0c8/michael-ignatieff-3146_afghans_they-afghans-understand-the-difficult-tr_2927666.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“They [Afghans] understand the difficult truth that their best hope of freedom lies in a temporary experience…” — Michael Ignatieff", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Michael Ignatieff", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ignatieff/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "They [Afghans] understand the difficult truth...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/they-afghans-understand-the-difficult-truth-that-their-best-hope-of/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/they-afghans-understand-the-difficult-truth-that-their-best-hope-of/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```