Karzai’s actions ‘reckless,’ Donilon says

Former Obama National Security Adviser Tom Donilon on Sunday said that Afghan President Hamid Karzai is being “reckless” in not signing a security agreement with the U.S.

“President Karzai should go ahead and sign the agreement. It’s been approved by a very large assembly of leaders in Afghanistan. 2,500 leaders got together, looked at the proposed agreement with the United States, after December 31, 2014, and asked — and recommended to President Karzai that he sign it,” Donilon said on ABC’s “This Week.”

{mosads}“President Karzai should sign it, because I think it’s in Afghanistan’s interests, and I think it’s in our interest.”

“That said, his refusal to sign at this point I think is reckless,” Donilon added. “I think it’s reckless in terms of Afghanistan, and I think it also adversely impacts our ability to plan coherently and comprehensively for post-2014.”

The White House has threatened to withdraw all U.S. and NATO troops from Afghanistan if Karzai doesn’t sign the long-term agreement this year.

But Karzai has not budged, insisting that he will wait until after the Afghan presidential elections next spring before the agreement is signed.

Karzai has also added new demands he wants met before signing an agreement the U.S. believed to be finalized.

“… if the United States doesn’t have a bilateral security arrangement with Afghanistan that supports its troop presence there and provides the kinds of protections that we need, the United States cannot be present in Afghanistan after December 31st, 2014,” Donilon said.

He also warned of the “cascading effects” of a U.S. pullout.

“If the United States isn’t there, NATO allies won’t be there, because NATO allies rely on the capabilities that the United States provides. We won’t have the same kind of support for the Afghan national security forces.”

Donilon dodged a question about whether Karzai’s defiance of the White House risks the gains that have been made in the war.

“We think at the end of the day, it will be better to have continued support for the Afghan national forces and have a small counter-terrorism presence in Afghanistan. But again, as I said, the United States has a lot of options in terms of protecting its interests in the region. “