Roger Willemsen at the Goethe Institute

I went to Roger Willemsen's book presentation (An Afghan Journey) this evening at the Goethe Institute in London. He was presenting and discussing the English version of the book. He reports from an extended trip he made to Afghanistan at the end of 2005. Willemsen was fairly skeptical about the chances of success in rebuilding the country and was adamant that sending more troops would only aggravate the situation. One bon mot from his book where in the course of a conversation an Afghan replied: "You have the watches and we have the time."