Karzai says won’t be bullied into inking US deal

Afghan President Hamid Karzai says he will not be ‘intimidated’ into signing a controversial security deal with Washington, which would allow thousands of US troops to stay in Afghanistan after 2014.

“Aggressive rhetoric won’t work… We are not a nation that is known for giving into intimidation,” he said in an interview with India’s NDTV on Friday.

“If they have not recognized this they should, it will be good for them to recognize… We will sign it [deal] when we feel sure that our signature will bring peace and security,” the Afghan president stated.

Karzai, who is on a three-day visit to India, made the remarks ahead of a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The security deal with Washington, called the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA), would allow some 12,000 US troops to stay in the Asian country beyond 2014.

Karzai has said the agreement could only be signed after Afghanistan’s upcoming presidential election in April 2014 and warned against a NATO presence if it just means “more bombs and killings.”

The Afghan president has also called for a halt to US-led forces’ attacks against civilian targets across the war-ravaged country.

However, US officials insist that the deal should be signed by the end of 2013.

Karzai enjoys close ties with India and Washington hopes that New Delhi could convince him to ink the troubled deal.

On December 10, James Dobbins, the US special representative on Afghanistan and Pakistan, said while testifying before a Senate committee that Karzai’s visit to India could be “quite influential, because he highly respects and has good relations with the Indian government.”

Meanwhile, Karzai criticized Washington’s pressure to sign the pact in an interview with French daily Le Monde and accused the US of behaving like a colonial power.

The Afghan president said Dobbins had told him during a recent visit to Kabul that there would be no peace without a security agreement.

Karzai said this meant “If you don’t sign the agreement, we will provoke fighting in your country, we will cause trouble.”