The Afghan President says he will not sign a crucial security pact with the US till after presidential elections next year. Hamid Karzai backs the deal, but does not trust the US.
"The agreement should be signed when the election is
conducted, properly and with dignity," Karzai told the Loya
Jirga grand assembly that began on Thursday.
The unexpected statement comes just hours after Secretary of
State John Kerry said the two sides had finalized the wording of
the agreement.
Karzai said that his deferment would show America's assurance
"that we are moving on the path to security and they are
accompanying us on this path."
A spokesman for the United States Embassy in Kabul declined to
comment on Karzai’s plan as it was an on-going diplomatic
discussion.
President Karzai told the gathering in Kabul that President
Barack Obama had sent a letter assuring him that a security pact
between the two states was in Afghanistan’s best interest.
The five-day long 2,500-member national consultative council is
set to debate the draft and decide whether US troops will be
permitted to stay in the country post-2014.
The deal indicates that up to 15,000 US troops could remain in
the country until 2024. But both sides still want final details
to be clarified.
One of the main stumbling blocks in reaching the bilateral
security agreement was the legal status of American troops on the
ground.
On Wednesday the Afghan foreign ministry released a draft
security deal, which said that US forces remaining in Afghanistan
after 2014 will be under the jurisdiction of the US and not be
subject to Afghan courts.
The Loya Jirga’s decision on the 25-page “Security and Defense
Cooperation Agreement between the United States of America and
the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan” is expected by Sunday.
The council can revise or reject any part of the draft agreement.
After Loya Jirga amendments, the Afghan parliament is set to
review the agreement and also make more changes before it is
approved.
Despite his statement, Afghanistan's President said he backs a
security deal with the US, but at the same time he acknowledged
there was little trust between the two sides.
"My trust with America is not good. I don't trust them and they
don't trust me," Karzai said. "During the past 10 years I
have fought with them and they have made propaganda against
me."
Karzai’s decision, which came as a surprise even for the closest
of the President’s aides, means that the long-debated deal will
not be signed before April 5, the day when the presidential
election is scheduled.
"This may be misconstrued as if the president wants someone
specific [to win] in the elections," Hedayat Amin Arsala,
Karzai's former vice president, said according to The Wall Street
Journal. "I hope that is not the case."
The US had wanted the agreement signed by the end of October 2013
as it would give military planners time to prepare to keep troops
in the country after the scheduled 2014 withdrawal.
However, in response to Karzai’s Thursday statement, President
Obama said he would decide about the continuing presence of
American troops after Kabul signs the pact.