When the president during the campaign said he was against nation building, I didn't realize he meant our nation.
I think that before you take on nation building in your mind's eye as to how it should be, you'd better have a clear understanding if this is doable and will work.
We have been partners in nation-building and take our role in building the nation very proudly.
I want to request Modiji that you cannot accomplish nation-building by disappointing the government employees.
The job of nation building, the job of nation leadership in a difficult, complex coalition has worked.
President Obama and Democrats won a mandate to move us forward with jobs, healthcare reform, equality, and nation building here at home.
As the Obama administration negotiates with the Karzai government and with Pakistan, we may be tempted to make commitments that, in the name of nation-building, restrict our ability to fight terrorists. If we must involve the Afghan government in every night raid, our operations will slow and targets will escape.
Since Bin Laden's death, many Americans have decided that our job in Afghanistan is done. They see a victory in the counterterrorism campaign, and are tired of the corruption, confusion and dysfunction of the nation-building campaign.
After 9/11, a few hundred CIA and Special Operations personnel, backed by airpower and Afghan militias, devastated Taliban and al-Qaeda forces. That effort has since turned into a conventional Pentagon nation-building exercise and gone backward.
In general, Americans are not very good at nation-building and not very good colonialists.
