US-Afghan security deal ‘up in the air’

An agreement between the US and Afghanistan that would allow American troops to remain in the country beyond 2014 is “up in the air,” a scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington says.

The Afghan government has rejected a key proposal of a deal with the US, putting the entire deal in doubt days before Afghan tribal leaders gather in Kabul to consider the matter.

The government in Kabul is refusing to allow US forces to enter Afghan homes after combat operations end next year.

“At the moment, the agreement is very much up in the air as to whether there will be finally what they call BSA, Bilateral Security Agreement,” Marvin G. Weinbaum told Press TV on Monday.

“The major sticking point which had been over immunity for American forces, something that the US requires wherever its troops are, has now been pretty much settled but what is not been settled is the issue about whether American forces that remain behind will be able to enter Afghan homes,” Weinbaum said.

“This seems to be were [Afghan] President [Hamid] Karzai has drawn the line,” he added.

Afghans have repeatedly staged rallies to show their opposition to the possible security deal with Washington.

They are calling for a swift US military pullout, saying that there is no need for the deal, which, if signed, would require American forces to remain in Afghanistan for years to come.

Thousands of Afghan civilians, including a large number of women and children, have been killed during night raids by US-led foreign forces and CIA-run assassination drone strikes.