US MAY EASE STANCE ON AFGHAN DEAL

         Kabul, 21 Shafar 1435/24 December 2013 (MINA) – A report says the United States may be easing its stance toward a controversial security pact with Afghanistan, days before the December 31 deadline.

         An American official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the New York Times  that the administration of President Barack Obama was holding off on signing the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) with Kabul.

         The agreement would allow the presence of US troops in Afghanistan beyond the 2014 withdrawal deadline, Press Tv quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) pada Tuesday (24/12).

         Although it is not clear how long Washington will wait for an agreement with Kabul, the unnamed official said that if the United States wanted a deal at all, “We’re going to have to wait.”

          Meanwhile, White House spokeswoman Laura Magnuson said, “We’ve been clear that our preference is to conclude the BSA by the end of the year, and that if we cannot conclude a BSA promptly thereafter, then we will be forced to initiate planning for a post-2014 future, in which there would be no US or NATO troops presence in Afghanistan.”

          The sudden shift in Washington’s approach towards reaching a deal with Kabul comes after threats of a complete withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan aimed at pressuring Afghan President Hamid Karzai into signing the agreement.

          The Afghan president has said that he would not be intimidated by the United States or pressured into signing the deal and that the matter should be left to the next government after the April elections in Afghanistan.

          He said that Kabul could not approve an agreement without guarantees that the United States would halt its deadly airstrikes on residential areas of Afghanistan and help broker a peace process with the Taliban.

          The BSA will provide soldiers staying in Afghanistan beyond 2014 with immunity from prosecution under Afghan law. But the soldiers will instead, be prosecuted in US courts. The Afghan government has rejected this.

           NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has also pressured Karzai into signing the deal, threatening that there would be no agreement with the military alliance either.

           There are currently over 80,000 foreign troops, most of them Americans, deployed in Afghanistan, (T/P012/P04)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)