He talked of buying off corrupt officials, forging passports and doing whatever it took to get his Afghan cadre to Ukraine, but he had no real way to accomplish his goals. At one point he mentioned arranging a U.S. military transport flight from Iraq to Poland with Afghan refugees willing to fight,
Honestly, his state of mind was familiar to me and reminded me of a lot of people in that sphere that were very similar,
I shook my head. It sounded ridiculous, but the tone in Mr. Routh’s voice said otherwise. He was going to back Ukraine’s war effort, no matter what,
He seemed way in over his head and very driven to help where he could,
It struck me as surprising but also not that surprising,
You can't really underestimate Ukraine, Russia's invasion and what it's like to be there. I use the term loosely, ‘drinking the Kool-Aid,’
Mr. Routh, who had spent some time in Ukraine trying to raise support for the war, was seeking recruits from among Afghan soldiers who fled the Taliban. And so the former Afghan soldier reckoned Mr. Routh could get him to the Ukrainian front. (Anything, even war, was better than the conditions in Iran for Afghans after the Taliban retook Kabul in August of 2021.),
Mr. Routh, who spent several months in Ukraine last year, said he planned to move them, in some cases illegally, from Pakistan and Iran to Ukraine. He said dozens had expressed interest,
In my opinion everyone should be there supporting the Ukrainians,
He really supported the Ukrainian cause,
He never struck me as a would-be assassin of a former president,
I instantly remembered him. He was a very colorful personality when I interviewed him,
He was doing a lot of work for them,
I never talked to him again. I didn't even know… until last night about his… political affiliations,
The question as far as why I'm here … to me, a lot of the other conflicts are grey, but this conflict is definitely black and white,
I presume that I must be clear, that while on the current path Ukraine will not win, it is imperative for the world that they do win, and that is why this book is so important, for us all to recognize that losing is not an option and what we must do to win,
I am here in kyiv and want to use Independence Park to create a tent city of all the foreigners here in support to get thousands more foreign civilians to come and support Ukraine,
Ukraine is very often hard to work with. Many foreign soldiers leave after a week in Ukraine or must move from unit to unit to find a place they are respected and appreciated,
Just get it done. All right. Negotiate a deal,
We each need to help the Chinese,