--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The Afghans, despite their backwardness…" description: "\"The Afghans, despite their backwardness, are a friendly lot, but the Taliban are as barbaric as the Huns from the past.\" — Sushmita Banerjee" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/383/sushmita-banerjee-100652_barbaric_the-afghans-despite-their-backwardness-a_2126552.jpg" --- # The Afghans, despite their backwardness, are a friendly… ![“The Afghans, despite their backwardness, are a friendly lot, but the Taliban are as barbaric as the Huns from the past.” quote by Sushmita Banerjee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/383/sushmita-banerjee-100652_barbaric_the-afghans-despite-their-backwardness-a_2126552.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/383/sushmita-banerjee-100652_barbaric_the-afghans-despite-their-backwardness-a_2126552.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/383/sushmita-banerjee-100652_barbaric_the-afghans-despite-their-backwardness-a_2126552.jpg) > “The Afghans, despite their backwardness, are a friendly lot, but the Taliban are as barbaric as the Huns from the past.” [Sushmita Banerjee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sushmita-banerjee/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Afghans are generally friendly, yet the Taliban exhibit extreme barbarism reminiscent of historic Huns, highlighting a stark cultural contrast. **In simple terms:** Afghans friendly, Taliban barbaric. Key Takeaway Recognize cultural nuances and avoid broad stereotypes. Themes culture conflict stereotypes Mood concerned analytical Type Afghans:1 Barbaric:1 Despite:0 Friendly:1 Friendship:0 Israel:0 Lot:0 Past:0 Taliban:1 Time:0 Afghans Despite:0 Taliban Barbaric:1 Barbaric Huns:0 When to use this quote - diplomacy - journalism - humanitarian aid Key Concepts human rights political analysis Questions to Reflect On - How can we promote nuanced understanding? - What actions support affected communities? A Different Perspective Simplistic labels can mislead. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Afghans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/afghans/) [Afghans Despite](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/afghans-despite-4364197/) [Barbaric](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/barbaric/) [Barbaric Huns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/barbaric-huns-4364199/) [Despite](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/despite/) [Friendly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/friendly/) [Friendship](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/friendship/) [Israel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/israel/) [Lot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lot/) [Past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past/) [Taliban](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/taliban/) [Taliban Barbaric](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/taliban-barbaric-4364198/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [The Taliban may pine for a pre-industrial society, but most Afghans do not.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-engel/the-taliban-may-pine-for-a-pre-industrial-society-but-most-afghans-do/) [Richard Engel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-engel/) > [“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 Taliban, broadly speaking, are Afghans - farmers, subsistence farmers. As I say, most of those people can't find the United States on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rory-stewart/the-taliban-broadly-speaking-are-afghans-farmers-subsistence-farmers/) [Rory Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rory-stewart/) > [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/) > [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/) > [I was traumatised in the medieval Afghan society at Sarana village by the local boys of Omar's Taliban who forced my in-laws to subjugate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sushmita-banerjee/i-was-traumatised-in-the-medieval-afghan-society-at-sarana-village-by/) [Sushmita Banerjee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sushmita-banerjee/) > [No Afghans, as far as we know, have been involved in terrorist acts against our country. 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 Afghans I met were some of the nicest and most honorable people I've ever encountered. There is a code called 'Pashtunwali,' so if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brad-thor/the-afghans-i-met-were-some-of-the-nicest-and-most-honorable-people-i/) [Brad Thor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brad-thor/) > [The majority of Afghans do not see the Americans as foreign occupiers who must be defeated. Instead, they are hungry for the Americans to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gayle-tzemach-lemmon/the-majority-of-afghans-do-not-see-the-americans-as-foreign-occupiers/) [Gayle Tzemach Lemmon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gayle-tzemach-lemmon/) > [“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/) > [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/) > [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/) > [“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/) > [“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/) > [ 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/) ## More by Sushmita Banerjee > [I was traumatised in the medieval Afghan society at Sarana village by the local boys of Omar's Taliban who forced my in-laws to subjugate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sushmita-banerjee/i-was-traumatised-in-the-medieval-afghan-society-at-sarana-village-by/) [Sushmita Banerjee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sushmita-banerjee/) [Explore all 2 Sushmita Banerjee quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sushmita-banerjee/) ## 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. Instead, they are hungry for the Americans to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gayle-tzemach-lemmon/the-majority-of-afghans-do-not-see-the-americans-as-foreign-occupiers/) [Gayle Tzemach Lemmon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gayle-tzemach-lemmon/) > [The Afghans I met were some of the nicest and most honorable people I've ever encountered. There is a code called 'Pashtunwali,' so if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brad-thor/the-afghans-i-met-were-some-of-the-nicest-and-most-honorable-people-i/) [Brad Thor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brad-thor/) > [No Afghans, as far as we know, have been involved in terrorist acts against our country. 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": "The Afghans, despite their backwardness, are a friendly lot, but the Taliban are as barbaric as the Huns from the past.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sushmita Banerjee" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sushmita-banerjee/the-afghans-despite-their-backwardness-are-a-friendly-lot-but-the/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Afghans" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sushmita-banerjee/the-afghans-despite-their-backwardness-are-a-friendly-lot-but-the/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/383/sushmita-banerjee-100652_barbaric_the-afghans-despite-their-backwardness-a_2126552.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/383/sushmita-banerjee-100652_barbaric_the-afghans-despite-their-backwardness-a_2126552.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/383/sushmita-banerjee-100652_barbaric_the-afghans-despite-their-backwardness-a_2126552.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The Afghans, despite their backwardness, are a friendly lot, but the Taliban are as barbaric as the Huns…” — Sushmita Banerjee", "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": "Sushmita Banerjee", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sushmita-banerjee/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The Afghans, despite their backwardness, are...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sushmita-banerjee/the-afghans-despite-their-backwardness-are-a-friendly-lot-but-the/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sushmita-banerjee/the-afghans-despite-their-backwardness-are-a-friendly-lot-but-the/#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 } } ] } ```