Daily Inspiration Quote by Lakhdar Brahimi

Diplomatic language rarely declares victory; it manages expectations while quietly assigning legitimacy. Brahimi’s line, delivered in the shadow of Afghanistan’s post-2001 political scramble, is doing three jobs at once: reassuring outsiders, nudging Afghan factions, and expanding the UN’s mandate without sounding like an imposition.

The key move is the soft assertion of Afghan agency: “it seems” and “want to avail themselves” are hedges, but strategic ones. They imply consent while leaving room for the reality that “the Afghans” is not a single will but a fractured field of militias, exiles, tribal brokers, and war-weary civilians. By phrasing desire as broadly shared and self-initiated, Brahimi preempts the accusation that a settlement is being stitched together by foreign capitals. It’s a classic legitimacy shield: if the process appears Afghan-led, it becomes harder to reject as colonial choreography.

Then comes the harder claim wrapped in politeness: “all recognize that the UN is uniquely qualified.” “Uniquely” is a power word in a profession that avoids absolutes. It positions the UN as the only acceptable convener precisely because every other actor has baggage: neighboring states with proxies, the US with military force, Pakistan and Iran with competing interests, even Afghan leaders with blood debts. The UN’s comparative advantage is not purity but plausible neutrality.

Subtextually, Brahimi is selling a forum before selling outcomes. “Bring them together” sounds modest, almost procedural, yet it’s the whole battle: getting rivals to treat a table as binding. The sentence is a permission slip for international involvement, written in the ink of Afghan “consent,” even as the real work is corralling power into a governable shape.