Across kabul years before. It just simply was too dangerous. It is still a dangerous place, by the way. I dont want to sound pollyannish here. Things havent is changed for the better in afghanistan and the American People, sadly, dont know it. Relative to the american by way ofy itself part of the story, of course, is the growth in the number of students. When it opened i think it with 53 students. There is now 1,000 students there. 300 of them are women. And they have a broad number of courses. I wont go into all those. On ann a a newd campus an International Campus womens economic. Defense dollars to open up a womens Economic Development school, a. I. D. . t that why is it d. O. D. . Significantly to the security of the country, but i think basically the answer is because the d. O. D. Did a number of things including some of the commanders expenditures which helped the development of that is so essential to its security and this is part of it. At thee story we got American University
Country, which is so essential to its security. , thee story we got American University the town student talks about his life experience. The taliban was there and took refuge with his family. Younger boy at that time. As third soon as the taliban were dripping out he came back. As a matter fact, how to read and to write. Now interviewing as a job as a. Ales manager there are full fulbright scholars at the university in kabul. He wanted me to say thank you to the American People. This is as close as i could come. The Education System and afghanistan. So many of them, the number given to them is counterintuitive. So i do not use it. In terms of the lower grades, before you get to colleges and universities, before the taliban was driven out, to the extent they have been, 900,000 boys. Now a Million Students in school. 3 million of those are girls. None of those who couldve been educated before we got there with our allies. Were 20,000e teachers, all male. Is now 200,000 teachers. 60,000
I believe we should not at this time add additional sanctions. We should fully keep those sanctions in place. That is how my believe, the main reason why iran is where they are out because those sanctions have had an impact. My committee, the Armed Services committee, has been very much involved putting those sanctions in place. Alas National Defense authorization act had the last tranche in that bill. Im not one who has any sense at all and opposed to sanctions. As opposed, i am very for it. If we respond to this possibility in a negative way instead of being study and keeping sanctions in place, if we tighten the screws now when it looks as though, apparently against some opposition at home and in iran, that the iranian leadership may be willing to talk about ending, modifying, changing and making less threatening their nuclear program, and to response is negative, they could very well lose the very countries, particularly russia and china, who have stood with us to put sanctions in
And met with president karzai. Today, the Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman about improvements in the country as the u. S. And prepare to remove troops from afghanistan in 2014. From the council on foreign relations. Is an hour. Welcome to the foreign relations. Im johnathan karl. A high honor to be here with levin. Introduction. S no interduck carl levin is the chairman of the Senate Armed Services from the great state of michigan and of special interest to me, just back from a trip to afghanistan where he commanders over there and also had a one on one president karzai. Im eager to hear about that and senator levin has some tomarks about the trip afghanistan and then we will have a conversation. Levin . R well, thank you, jon. We appreciate the invitation to join you this morning and look forward to that conversation as well. Just here to share my ideas but hopefully to receive ideas that we all need in this kind of a world that we live in. Mentioned, i recently returned from
I have been there perhaps 12 times or so. The staff later will tell me if it is really a 11 or 13. Weve been there a lot. Strikinges are pretty especially in the last few years. That is not the impression the American People have. That, to me, is the obvious fact that things have changed and changed for the better in afghanistan. First of all, its more secure. We and our allies have made a the growth, the strength of the afghan army and the police now which has grown in a much more capable and respected force including the acal police, which has made major difference particularly in the villages about anna stan villages of afghanistan. The most feared force are those 25,000 local Police Feared by the taliban. Because they are so directly ed to the homes and they become a major threat to the taliban control and success. They are a resilient force and should not be underestimated. Theres a long way to go in terms of becoming a country that. S freer from terror nonetheless, the changes ar