Afghanistan may walk away from U.S. postwar deal, says Karzai

“If this agreement does not provide Afghanistan peace and security the Afghans will not want it,” Karzai added. 

{mosads}Afghanistan, he said, has suffered tremendously due to U.S. and NATO operations during the span of the over decade-long conflict. 

The Afghan war, which officially entered its 12th year on Monday, “was one that caused Afghanistan a lot of suffering, a lot of loss of life, and no gains because the country is not secure,” according to Karzai. 

U.S-Afghanistan negotiations for a postwar American presence after the White House-mandated withdrawal in 2014 has been fraught with disagreements and frayed relations between the two countries since they began in 2011. 

Most recently, Washington’s plan to have U.S. special operations forces and American intelligence operatives conduct those missions against the Taliban and al Qaeda elements inside Afghanistan after the White House’s 2014 withdrawal deadline is “a deal breaker,” according Aimal Faizi, spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai, told reporters in Kabul. 

“These things are strongly related to our sovereignty,” he said last Wednesday. 

“We find it to be something that will definitely undermine our sovereignty, if we allow the U.S. forces to have the right to conduct unilateral military operations,” Faizi said. 

The security pact being debated, known as a bilateral security agreement (BSA), will lay the groundwork for a postwar American force and grant legal immunity for U.S. troops in that force. 

Lack of an immunity deal for U.S. troops was a crucial factor in the failed attempt to set up a postwar security deal in Iraq and set the stage for the recent wave of sectarian violence against Iraqi forces and civilians in the country. 

Prior to this latest impasse, Afghan and American diplomats have begin coalescing around a final number of U.S. forces to remain in country after American and coalition forces pull out. 

That total postwar force will likely end up around 10,000 soldiers, according to Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul. 

That figure matches rough troop estimates circulating on Capitol Hill. 

“My hunch is it’s going to be below 10,000,” Senate Armed Services Committee chief Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said earlier this month during a breakfast in Washington.

There are roughly 55,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, but most are expected to rotate back to the United States over the coming months. 

The final American units will head back stateside  back to the U.S. after the April 2014 presidential elections, marking the end of the American war in Afghanistan. 

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