Karzai won’t sign security pact with US: NATO

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says Afghan President Hamid Karzai will not sign a security pact with the United States that would allow thousands of foreign troops to stay in Afghanistan after 2014.

Rasmussen made the remarks in an interview with reporters in the German city of Munich on Saturday on the sidelines of the annual Munich Security Conference.

The NATO chief said he believed that Karzai would leave the thorny issue for the Afghan president elected in the April 5 election.

“Most probably, it will be for a new president to sign a security agreement and in that case we are prepared to stay after 2014,” Rasmussen said.

“If we don’t get a signature even from a new president, then we will also be prepared to withdraw everything by the end of 2014, because in that case we don’t have a legal basis for a continued presence,” he said.

On Wednesday, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel expressed deep frustration with Karzai over deferring signing the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA).

“You can’t just keep deferring and deferring, because at some point the realities of planning and budgeting and all that is required collides,” Hagel said.

The Pentagon chief, however, stated that Karzai is the elected president of a sovereign country, and Washington’s ability to influence his decisions is limited.

Under the agreement, US-led foreign troops would stay in Afghanistan beyond 2014. They can also raid Afghan houses.

Karzai says he will not sign the BSA until certain conditions are met, including a guarantee from Washington that there will be no more raids on Afghan houses. He says the demands come from the country’s highest decision-making body, the Loya Jirga.

In his speech at the Loya Jirga on November 24, 2013, Karzai said, “If US military forces conduct military operations on Afghan homes even one more time, then there will be no BSA and we won’t sign it.”

The US and its allies invaded Afghanistan on October 7, 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror. The offensive removed the Taliban from power, but after more than 12 years, the foreign troops have still not been able to establish security in the country.