Afghans Say the Funniest Things

I love a tasty bit of dark humor. Said Ali A. Jalali, former Afghan interior minister, when asked about Obama's plan for Afghanistan: "Afghanistan is not Iraq. It is the theme park of problems." Delightful! The mental image alone was worth the price of the morning paper in which the quote appeared.

Mr. Jalali's quip replaced my previous favorite quote of the past news cycle, which had come from Rachel Maddow (who shares my hairstyle, I noticed). She described the rising tensions between India and Pakistan as "2 guys who both brought guns to the same knife fight." Good, but not as good as Jalali's.

Still, it doesn't matter if one is discussing an economically devastated nation with a weak government, zero infrastructure, a mere passing acquaintance with modernity, and more terrorists than one can shake a stick at, or if one is discussing the rising tensions between two nuclear-armed nations that hate each other. In either situation, one thing is clear - jokes are welcome.