Gen.: US shifts focus to Afghan election
Iran Press TV
Sat Feb 8, 2014 10:6PM GMT
The incoming No. 2 American commander in Afghanistan claims that Washington is shifting its focus from a controversial security pact with Kabul to the country's upcoming election.
Lt. Gen. Mark Milley handed over International Security Assistance Force Joint Command to Lt. Gen. Joseph Anderson at a ceremony in Kabul, Stars and Stripes reports.
'Right now the immediacy is supporting the elections and earlier fighting season and getting through all that through the summer,' Anderson said. 'Then based on whatever number we have to deal with, we will adjust.'
'We'll deal with each step along the way,' he added.
Presidential election in Afghanistan is slated for April 5.
Tensions have escalated in recent months between the United States and Afghanistan after President Hamid Karzai refused to sign a deal that would allow thousands of US troops to stay in the country beyond 2014, when all NATO combat troops are set to withdraw.
The US military has been pushing to keep up to 10,000 troops in Afghanistan after 2014. President Barack Obama has threatened that he will not leave any American forces in Afghanistan unless Karzai signs the deal.
A bipartisan group of US senators on Thursday urged Obama to seek congressional approval if he wants to keep American troops in Afghanistan after 2014.
The Senators said even if the security agreement between the two countries is signed, the White House and the Pentagon should not be the only decision makers for the future of US troops in Afghanistan as they want to have their say in the decision-making process, too.
The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in 2001 as part of Washington's "war on terror." The offensive removed the Taliban from power but insecurity still remains in the country 12 years after the war started.
ARA/ARA
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