Afghanistan president says no rush for US security deal

KABUL: Afghanistan’s president said Tuesday that he was in no rush to sign a security deal with the United States, once again dashing American hopes that a pact can be quickly finalized.
The United States wants a deal by October to give American and NATO military planners enough time to prepare for to keep some troops in the country after a scheduled 2014 withdrawal, instead of a total pull-out.
Afghanistan and the United States have since last October been negotiating a security deal that will give the US a legal basis for having forces in Afghanistan after 2014, and also allow it to lease bases around the country. If the US does not sign the deal, it is unlikely that NATO or any of its allies will keep troops in Afghanistan after 2014.
Karzai however is pressing demands that the US is reluctant to meet, and also is believed to want to shield himself from any possible backlash from signing a deal that some see as compromising Afghan sovereignty.
“The Americans wanted this security agreement in March or April, and now they are trying to bring it in October. But we want to do well, not to hurry; they are in a rush, not us. We are very relaxed,” Hamid Karzai told a youth conference in the capital.
He added that if by October the United States can’t meet a set of wide-ranging conditions, including security guarantees for the country and pledges for modern weaponry, then they could sign a deal with his successor after the April 5 elections for a new head of state.
Although Karzai has never fully spelled out his conditions, some of the guarantees are thought to include the security of Afghanistan’s borders from foreign intervention. It is unlikely that the US would ever agree to such a condition, as Washington is reluctant to sign anything that could be read as a pledge to defend Afghan borders against a neighbor such as Pakistan.