U.S., Afghanistan agree on security pact

PanARMENIAN.Net - America and Afghanistan have agreed on a security pact that could clear the way for thousands of U.S. troops to train and assist Afghan forces after the NATO combat mission ends in 2014, Belfast Telegraph said.

But the agreement is far from complete as the document now goes to the Loya Jirga, a 3,000-member council of elders that has the right to revise or reject any clause of the draft agreement. Whatever they agree upon then goes to the Afghan parliament, which could make still more changes before the deal is approved.

On the U.S. side, only the Obama administration needs to approve the agreement, but it could reject changes made by Afghan officials. If so, that leaves open the option for the U.S. to pull all troops out of Afghanistan, as in Iraq, when the countries could not agree on terms of a security arrangement.

Sectarian violence has plagued Iraq since, and some fear Afghanistan could head down that path without a continued U.S. presence if Afghan forces cannot defend the country themselves.

U.S. secretary of state John Kerry said the language of the Afghan deal, agreed after about a year of tense on-again, off-again negotiations, would be reflected in the draft proposal presented to the Loya Jirga in Kabul November 21.

"There were some people who may have questioned or doubted whether that was going to happen. Well, it's happening tomorrow, and it's happening tomorrow with agreed-upon language between us," Kerry said during a news conference at the U.S. State Department with Australian officials and defence secretary Chuck Hagel last night.

"We have agreed on the language that would be submitted to the Loya Jirga, but they have to pass it."

The agreement would give the U.S. a legal basis for having forces in Afghanistan after 2014 and also allow it to use bases across the country.

U.S. officials have not yet disclosed the number of troops they want to keep in Afghanistan after 2014. They have said the U.S. and NATO could keep between 8,000 and 12,000 troops there. Of those, the U.S. is expected to provide no more than 8,000.

Kerry said that whatever the number, the role of the U.S. military would be "limited". "It is entirely train, equip and assist. There is no combat role for United States forces, and the bilateral security agreement is a way to try to clarify for Afghans and for United States military forces exactly what the rules are with respect to that ongoing relationship," he said.