No Result yet on Afghanistan-U.S. security agreement talks

KABUL: (MEP) – Afghanistan has yet to close a security agreement with the United States further than 2014, while the two have been involved in lengthy talks on the matter.

An agreement is needed to decide how many U.S. troops would stay back in Afghanistan after the U.S.-led NATO coalition forces end their combat operations and withdraw from that country by the end of next year, UPI reported.

Despite the talks that have continued for more than a year, U.S. and Afghan officials are yet to resolve some main issues confronting an agreement, The Washington Post reported Thursday.

U.S. officials now want the agreement concluded by this month.

But Afghan officials seem reluctant to meet the deadline, citing to the Post their disappointment over previous negotiations with the United States.

Aimal Faizi, spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai, said under an agreement last year, the United States was to cease unilateral operations including night raids, but that such actions have not stopped despite Afghan government objections.

“We learned our lesson last time,” Faizi told the Post. “That’s why this is a slower process.”

Another unresolved issue, Faizi said, is his government demand that the U.S. military take more steps to check terrorists from neighboring Pakistan from coming into Afghanistan.

The Post said on Wednesday, officials from the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force declined comment on the allegations about unilateral military operations.

The report said President Karzai, for the first time, will lead his side in the negotiations this month with U.S. Ambassador James Cunningham and Faizi expressed hope there would be progress.

U.S. officials have said as part of the proposed security agreement, U.S. troops remaining in Afghanistan would enjoy diplomatic immunity, a privilege not accorded by the Iraqi government in 2011, which led to total U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq.

The Post said U.S. officials also realize meeting the demand for stopping the flow of terrorists from Pakistan would mean intervening in Pakistan, which they fear could upset the already fragile bilateral relationship.

But Faizi said without such a protection guarantee, it would be hard to sell the agreement to the Afghan people.

The report said Karzai seems in no rush to reach a security agreement and wouldn’t mind leaving it to be completed by his successor after the April presidential election.