2007 Events
Kurt Volker Talks about Afghanistan on DR-2 TV's "Deadline"
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Kurt Volker discussed progress in Afghanistan in an October 3 interview on DR-2 TV's "Deadline." Mr. Volker emphasized the progress being made in Afghanistan. In 2001 under the Taliban, just 8 percent of Afghans had access to health care. That figure has risen to between 65 and 80 percent today. In the area of education, only 900,000 Afghans were in school in 2001, none of them women. Today, 5 million Afghans are in school, 1.5 million of them women. In response to a question from Deadline host Karen Rønde, Deputy Assistant Secretary Volker responded that there are three reasons why we need to remain engaged in Afghanistan: the security and well being of our societies -- Danish, European and American -- depend on what we do in Afghanistan; the Afghan people need our help; and we've invested a lot in Afghanistan, what we're doing there is working, and we should continue. Taking a final question on how long we need to stay in Afghanistan, Mr Volker emphasized that Afghanistan has to be a long-term commitment for NATO, the U.S. and other European countries.