By RT
The US and Afghanistan have reportedly agreed on the draft of a mutual
security pact indicating that US troops could remain in the country
until 2024, according to Afghanistan. However, the US insists that some final details still need to be clarified.
Afghan politicians and tribal leaders will meet in two days to vote on
the new agreement.
Although the final text of the agreement is expected to be presented
to the grand council on Thursday, it still needs some final touches a
US State Department spokeswoman said. “There are still some final
issues we are working through… We are not there yet,” she said
according to Reuters.
While the 25-page “Security and Defense Cooperation Agreement Between
the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan”
is still unsigned, the deal displays a willingness of the US to retain
their military outposts for many years while continuing to pay to
support Afghan security forces.
The presence of up to 15,000 American troops could potentially last
until 2024, according to the document, which was released for public
viewing by NBC News.
Without such an accord however, the US might have to pull out from
Afghanistan by the end of 2014, as among other things the agreement
regulates its troops’ immunity from Afghan law.
The early draft of the document states that “The Parties acknowledge
that continued US military operations to defeat al-Qaeda and its
affiliates may be appropriate and agree to continue their close
cooperation and coordination toward that end.”
It also attempted to clarify the on-going contentious issue of whether
the US military would be permitted to search civilian homes.
And according to paragraph 4, the deal “may be terminated by mutual
written agreement or by either Party upon two years’ written notice.”
In a phone call on Tuesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry asked
Afghan President Hamid Karzai that US troops be permitted to enter
Afghan homes in “exceptional” circumstances, according to AP. Aimal
Faizi, a Karzai spokesman, in response stated that any “extraordinary
circumstances” could not be misused.
Earlier reports suggested that Karzai rejected a provision granting
the United States authority to unilaterally carry out military
operations within the country, including the search of civilian homes.
The NBC document is dated July 25, 2013, which accounts for some
discrepancies in the document’s terms with the official statement.
Hamid Karzai has long vocally expressed objections to US troops being
permitted to enter homes and US troop immunity to Afghan law. However,
the US maintained that both conditions are essential.
According to Faizi, the wording of these conditions was agreed upon
during Tuesday’s phone conversation.
Such concessions from Karzai became possible after “both sides agreed
that Obama will send a letter … assuring the President and the people
of Afghanistan that the right to enter into Afghan homes by US forces
and the extraordinary circumstances will not be misused,” Faizi told
Reuters.
Obama’s letter recognizing the damage done to the country’s civilians
during the 12 year war will be presented to the Afghan grand assembly
in an effort to gain popular support for a widely opposed deal.
“The whole idea of having a letter was to acknowledge the suffering of
the Afghan people and the mistakes of the past. That was the only
thing that satisfied the President,” Faizi said.
However, Obama’s national security adviser, Susan Rice, told CNN in an
interview on Tuesday that no apology for Afghanistan was in the works.
“There is not a need for the United States to apologize to
Afghanistan. Quite the contrary,” she said. “That is not on the
table.”
Later this week, thousands of Afghan political and tribal leaders will
meet to decide whether to allow US troops to remain in the country
following the 2014 withdrawal of foreign fighting forces.
The five-day long negotiations of the so-called Loya Jirga grand
assembly are to begin on Thursday.
But even if the deal is approved by some 3,000 prominent Afghans,
which is not guaranteed, the final decision will be made by the
parliament after the convention. – Eurasia Review
