The categories of the American war on terror-terrorists and non-terrorists, fundamentalists and democrats - mattered little, not when his abiding goal, like that of so many caught in the conflict, was simply to finish each day alive.
-- Anand Gopal (Prologue paragraph 3)

Importance: Gopal argues that the categories created by the Americans to view Afghanistan were incompatible with the true character of the country and its people’s efforts to survive.

The elders understood what Karzai did not yet seem to grasp: political victories in southern Afghanistan came not to those with the most inspiring ideas or far-reaching programs, but to those with the deepest pockets and biggest guns.
-- Anand Gopal (chapter 2 paragraph 5)

Importance: This quote foreshadows a recurring theme in the remainder of the book, that most Afghans were concerned with tangible benefits and physical protection, rather than ideological victories.

Thousands of young men, many of them now orphans and widowers flocked to the various factions feuding for power in...
-- Anand Gopal (chapter 3 paragraph 4)