Top US, Afghan diplomats meet on security pact

KABUL: Senior American and Afghan officials held talks yesterday to try to iron out the details of a key pact signed a year ago that defines the future of the United States’ commitment to Afghanistan.
The Strategic Partnership Agreement outlines a set of principles and general commitments for relations between Washington and Kabul after 2014, when foreign combat troops are to withdraw from Afghanistan. But there is lingering uncertainty over whether either party will be willing or able to stick to the provisions of the pact, which includes several loopholes for both nations.
The meeting yesterday in Kabul between US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rasoul is the second round of negotiations over how to implement the agreement, which was signed in May 2012 by President Barak Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
The deal spells out Washington’s commitment to Afghanistan over the next 10 years as well as its expectations of Kabul, including free and fair presidential elections next year, pledges to fight corruption, improve efficiency and protect human rights, including women’s rights.
Sticking points may include the amount of funds the US provides to Afghan security forces. The two countries are also still squabbling over a separate agreement that would protect from prosecution a residual force of as many as 10,000 US troops who would stay behind after the final withdrawal.
In remarks before yesterday’s talks, Burns promised that Washington would stick by Afghanistan and its nascent national security forces after 2014 and the end to the international combat mission.
But the deal allows either country to opt out with a one-year’s notice, which means that Karzai’s successor in next year’s presidential elections could scuttle the agreement.
The pact emphasizes a free, fair and transparent election in 2014. Karzai however has been relentless in his criticism of US involvement in Afghanistan’s political process, alleging Washington was maneuvering secretly to strengthen his political opposition even though he cannot run for a third term.
Burns denied that Washington was backing any candidate to replace Karzai.
Burns also repeated Washington’s support for the opening of an office for the Taleban in Qatar to provide a venue where Karzai’s High Peace Council could meet Taleban representatives to try to find a peaceful end to the 12-year war.
The Taleban have met representatives of about 30 countries, participated in international forums in Tokyo and France, and held backdoor talks with Afghanistan’s opposition politicians.
The next meeting is scheduled for Washington in October. Rasoul at the last meeting said he expected a conclusion of the talks within eight to 10 months but US is not giving a time frame.
11 abducted
Unidentified kidnappers have abducted 11 Afghans working in a UN-affiliated land mine clearing program in the east of the country, officials said yesterday.
The 11 were taken Thursday in a remote part of Nangarhar province, said Hazrat Hussain Mashreqiwal, provincial police spokesman. He did not name the abductors but said local officials and tribal elders were trying to negotiate the mine clearers’ freedom.
According to the United Nations there are an estimated 10 million mines scattered throughout 150 of Afghanistan’s 400 districts, a legacy of 30 years of war. Children and farmers face the most serious threats from the discarded explosive devices. On Friday three children in central Ghazni province were killed when they tried to dismantle an old bomb.
Also Saturday, a bomb killed an intelligence officer at his home in a remote northeastern corner of the country, officials said.
Mohammed Zahir, spokesman for Nuristan’s governor, said the province’s deputy intelligence chief Faiz Mohammed was the only casualty. It wasn’t immediately known how the bomb was detonated.
No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing but Taleban insurgents have been targeting US-backed government officials, calling them puppets and traitors.
Afghanistan’s intelligence chief Asadullah Khalid was badly injured in a suicide bombing in Kabul in December. The Taleban took responsibility for that attack.