The Buddhas had to be destroyed by the Taliban to get the world thinking about Afghanistan.

- Mohsen Makhmalbaf

The Taliban knows they have more to fear from an educated girl than an American drone.

- Tina Brown

The Afghans, despite their backwardness, are a friendly lot, but the Taliban are as barbaric as the Huns from the past.

- Sushmita Banerjee

Fundamentalism, as practiced by the Taliban, is the enemy of real thought, and religion too.

- Steve Earle

The people suffering most from the Taliban were Afghans.

- Salman Rushdie

You know, if I were an - if I were a Taliban, I'd say, 'What did al-Qaida ever do for me except get me kicked out of Afghanistan?'

- Robert M. Gates

Rockets fired by the Taliban generally aren't guided.

- Richard Engel

The Taliban may pine for a pre-industrial society, but most Afghans do not.

- Richard Engel

Talking to the Taliban is a process the Afghans have to manage. It is their country.

- Philip Hammond

We can't afford to leave Afghanistan to the Taliban and the terrorists.

- Condoleezza Rice

I mean, the Taliban, my view is that they have been weakened.

- Leon Panetta

The Taliban is resilient.

- Leon Panetta

For most directors, the scriptwriter is about as welcome on set as a member of the Taliban.

- Julian Fellowes

I don't think the Taliban will ever come back to take Afghanistan, no.

- Hamid Karzai

It is very clear that the people in Afghanistan do not want the Taliban back.

- Hillary Clinton

If American forces leave Afghanistan, the Taliban is going to do what to America? Don't say you're worried about what they will do to the Afghan people. If that was America's concern, America's operational presence there would be much different.

- Henry Rollins

After September 11, when the United States took action to overthrow the Taliban, our interests and Iran's aligned, and we were able to coordinate quietly but effectively.

- Earl Blumenauer

The fact is that Iran doesn't want to see the Taliban come back any more than do most Afghan citizens.

- David Petraeus