US gives Afghanistan year-end deadline to sign crucial security deal
Afghan president places agreement on post-war US troop presence in doubt by delaying signing of pact
President Hamid Karzai triggered uncertainty about a vital security pact with the United States on Thursday by saying it should not be signed until after Afghanistan’s presidential election next April, prompting the White House to insist on a year-end deadline.
Karzai’s surprise move, which came just a day after US Secretary of State John Kerry said the pact’s language had been agreed upon, suddenly threw its future into question and seemed certain to reignite tensions with Washington.
The Afghan leader spoke to about 2,500 tribal elders and political leaders from across Afghanistan gathered in the capital for a Loya Jirga, or grand council, to debate whether to allow US troops to stay after the planned 2014 drawdown of foreign forces.
Without an accord on the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA), the United States says it could pull out all its troops at the end of next year and leave Afghan forces to fight the Taliban insurgency on their own.
In a statement certain to irritate the United States, which is eager to clinch the deal as soon as possible, Karzai told the assembly any agreement on the status of US forces would have to wait until after a presidential election in April.
“This pact should be signed when the election has already taken place, properly and with dignity,” Karzai, who cannot run in the next year vote under the constitution, told the elders.
