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Kerry in Afghanistan to push for deal on military presence

Iran Press TV

Fri Oct 11, 2013 4:31PM GMT

US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Kabul on an unannounced visit Friday for urgent security talks as an end of October deadline looms for completing a deal that would allow American troops to remain in Afghanistan after 2014.

Kerry flew to Kabul from Kuala Lumpur and held talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai to advance the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) with Afghanistan.

Washington wants a deal by the end of October but the discussions have stalled over Karzai's demand for American guarantees against future foreign intervention.

Kabul is also opposed to US demands for any post-2014 force to be able to conduct counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations in Afghanistan.

"The United States and its allies, NATO, continue to demand even after signing the BSA they will have the freedom to attack our people, our villages," Karzai said Monday. "The Afghan people will never allow it."

Despite the deadlock, US officials insist that an agreement must be reached by the end of this month because if no deal is signed all American forces must withdraw after 2014.

Washington wants to maintain as many as 10,000 troops in Afghanistan.

However, officials traveling with Kerry told reporters aboard his plane, that the top US diplomat is not expecting to seal a deal during his visit.

Earlier this week, Karzai threatened he would quit talks on the deal if it does not serve the interests of his nation.

Without American troops on the ground in Afghanistan, it is unlikely that NATO or any of its allies would keep forces in the country.

There are currently 54,000 American troops in Afghanistan. That is far more than the troop level when President Barack Obama took office.

President Obama ordered a "surge" of 30,000 additional troops to the country in 2009. Despite the surge, the Taliban remain entrenched, inflicting heavy casualties on Afghan and American forces.

At least 112 US troops have died in Afghanistan so far this year, according to independent website iCasualties.org - more than during any of the first six years of the war.

HJ/HJ