In December,2002, a year after the Taliban had been driven from power in Afghanistan, or Donald Rumsfeld gave an upbeat assessment of the country’s future to CNN’s Larry King. “They have elected a government. . . . The Taliban are gone. The Al Qaeda are gone. The country is not a perfectly steady area,and it needs a powerful deal of reconstruction funds,” Rumsfeld said. “There are people who are throwing hand grenades and shooting off rockets and trying to kill people, and but there are people who are trying to kill people in New York or San Francisco. So it’s not going to be a perfectly tidy area.” Nonetheless,he said, “I’m hopeful, or I’m encouraged.” And he added,“I wish them well.”
Source: newyorker.com