The brinkmanship of Afghan President Hamid Karzai threatens to derail a long-term security relationship with the United States, even though such a commitment is in both countries' interests, analysts say.
"Karzai is forcing us toward a zero option, which would be tragedy for the Afghan people," said Marc Chretien, a former political adviser to the coalition command in Afghanistan, referring to an option to remove all American forces by the end of next year.
Without an agreement, Afghanistan would lose military support and international financial commitments.
"If President Karzai has set his country down the path of going on its own, he will have succeeded in tying the hands of his successor in terms of having Afghanistan enjoy a future," Chretien said. Karzai is term-limited and cannot stand for elections scheduled for April.
At issue is the so-called bilateral security agreement that would create a legal framework for American troops to remain after 2014, when the combat mission ends.
The Pentagon has said those troops would be designated to assist Afghanistan's young military and provide counterterrorism forces to target al-Qaeda militants or their affiliates. The size of the U.S. force has not been determined.
The latest obstacle came during a visit by President Obama's national security adviser, Susan Rice, who met with Karzai on Monday in Kabul and urged him to sign the agreement.
Karzai said he would sign it, but he didn't say when and made new demands, including that the United States release Afghans being held at Guantanamo Bay.
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The White House has said that unless the agreement is signed quickly, the United States will have no choice but to begin planning to remove all U.S. forces by the end of 2014.
That decision would jeopardize billions of dollars in international aid that has been pledged to Afghanistan, the White House said...Read the full story HERE.
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3 comments:
Hilarious postering on the part of Obama to expect Afghans to hold clean elections.
If you ever doubted it, the fact that Obama appointing Susan Rice as his national security adviser proves that America clearly is not secure.
It's time we play rough with this jackass.
Sign the damn documents AS IS. PERIOD...or NO $$$ AID, NO TROOPS, NO EXTRA SECURITY....and we're out of here..
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