After eight years of Danish military involvement in Afghanistan, Denmark’s Foreign Minister Per Stig Møller says he is disappointed and frustrated over the political development of the country and particularly empty promises from incumbent President Hamid Karzai.

”I have had many conversations with Karzai, and he always says the right things. Then when he goes home we discover that he does nothing about it,” Stig Møller says.

”If he wins (the election) we must put pressure on him to deliver some of the many good promises,” the foreign minster adds.

In particular Stig Møller says issues of corruption and development have to be addressed.

”We are primarily down there to prevent new training camps for terrorists. But that requires the backing of the population – and we’ll only get that through development and less corruption. So whoever wins the election must deliver results,” the Danish foreign minister says.

Stig Møller declines to say what consequences a lack of progress could have.

Only a small percentage of votes have been counted in the Afghan presidential election, but counting to date suggests that President Karzai has up to 45 percent of the vote so far. He needs over 50 percent in order to avoid a run-off.