Seamus Murphy: belief

Transcript context

…Is there an optimistic case for that country right now? If so, what does it look like? I think the optimism that I would have for that country would be the people. I’ve got a lot of faith in the people. We have this impression of Afghanistan as being very conservative, very extreme. It’s not at all. They’re very easygoing people. They’ve been in the middle of a lot of trouble, usually caused by people on the outside. They’re a small country. They’re strategically between many powers. They’ve had a lot of problems in their time. I think the optimism I would be looking towards would be the diaspora, I suppose, the people that have left, the people that might be able to do something from outside. They’re certainly keeping people alive by sending money back. I would say also people’s love, their love of their country is something special. It’s not a silly patriotism. It’s really, really deep in their veins. It’s one thing to have problems in your country and all the rest of it, but to actually have to leave your country — that’s tough for anyone. I think for Afghans, it’s particularly tough because they have such a love for their country. I would say the diaspora is probably the . . . Because people in Afghanistan can’t do much. They have to go along with whatever the authorities are saying. They’re pretty impotent. Is there enough ethnic unity there to build a nation state? Or you think the path of progress looks quite different altogether?…

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