warning Hi, we've moved to USCANNENBERGMEDIA.COM. Visit us there!

Neon Tommy - Annenberg digital news

Karzai: No Deal On U.S.-Afghan Security Pact

Colin Hale |
November 26, 2013 | 9:49 a.m. PST

Executive Producer

U.S. troops in Afghanistan/via Flickr
U.S. troops in Afghanistan/via Flickr
A proposed U.S.-Afghan security arrangement is on the verge of collapse following discussions between the two governments on Monday.

A day after meeting with Afghanistan's grand assembly of elders, the Loya Jirga, on Sunday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai told U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice during meetings on Monday that a comprehensive deal to extend security measures between the two countries would only be agreed to if the U.S. helped Afghanistan arrange peace talks with the Taliban and if the U.S. agreed to end "home entries" during raids on Afghan soil.

These raids are a common tactic used for counterinsurgency that the U.S. has already agreed to limit and to include Afghan troops.

Karzai also insisted that the U.S. release Afghan citizens held in the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

There are currently 17 Afghan nationals held at that facility.

According to the Washington Post, Rice told Karzai that the U.S. would prepare for a complete withdrawal by the end of 2014 if a deal was not made by the end of 2013. 

Failure to agree to a deal by the end of 2013 "would not provide the United States and NATO allies the clarity necessary to plan for a potential post-2014 military presence," Rice told reporters.

Read more about the U.S.-Afghan security agreement at the Washington Post, BBC News, and Bloomberg.

Reach Executive Producer Colin Hale here. Follow him on Twitter.



 

Buzz

Craig Gillespie directed this true story about "the most daring rescue mission in the history of the U.S. Coast Guard.”

Watch USC Annenberg Media's live State of the Union recap and analysis here.