Zee JLF | Hamid Karzai talks Trump and hums 'Guide' on Day 2

"We support President Trump's statement on Pakistan's use of extremism and we hope that now they will take action against Pakistan and military-intelligence establishment for providing sanctuary to the Taliban and other militant groups," said Hamid Karzai while addressing the crowd at Diggi Palace on Day 2 of the 2018 Zee Jaipur Literature Festival (ZeeJLF).

The former Afghanistan president spoke to festival director William Dalrymple about his life, the recent violent history of his country and the baby steps it was taking towards democracy. He even spoke about his brother's alleged involvement in the drug trade, which he dismissed as "immense propaganda" and "rumours", saying American money and contracts was behind this.

It was his reminiscences of the years he lived in India, in the early 1970s, before Afghanistan was invaded by the Soviet Union, that enthused the audience. Karzai spoke in Hindi and quoted songs such as 'Aaj phir jeene ki tamanna hai' from Guide and Lata Mangeshkar's 'Yeh mulakat ek bahana hai, pyaar ka silsila puraana hai', which elicited an applause. Asked which Indian actor he thought could play him on screen, he named Naseeruddin Shah "because he looks most like me; or shall I say, I look like him!"