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US, Afghanistan agree post-2014 troop deal

Karzai says pact will only be signed after polls

AFP, Kabul
Afghan President Hamid Karzai yesterday backed a proposed security pact with the United States that will see up to 15,000 foreign troops stay in the war-torn country, but said it would not be signed until after next year's election.
A grand assembly of tribal chieftains, community elders and politicians began four days of debating the bilateral security agreement, which will shape Washington's future military presence in Afghanistan.
Hours before the meeting, US Secretary of State John Kerry said the two sides had finally agreed the text of the pact after months of difficult negotiations.
If the "Loya Jirga" assembly approves the BSA, it must then be passed by the Afghan parliament.
It has been touted as vital to the country's future after 2014, when the bulk of NATO's 75,000 troops will pull out. The Taliban insurgency this year has reached levels of violence not seen since 2010, according to the United Nations.
Karzai urged the 2,500 delegates to consider Afghanistan's "future prosperity" as they made their decision, saying the deal gave the country a chance to move on after more than 30 years of war.
He signalled yet another delay to the pact,
which Washington had wanted completed by the end of October, saying it would only be signed "when our elections are conducted, correctly and with dignity".
Afghanistan goes to the polls on April 5 to elect a successor to Karzai, who must step down after serving two terms, and a credible election is seen as important to the country's future stability.
Karzai told delegates Afghanistan needed Washington's cooperation in ensuring a clean, fairballot.
He stressed that not all troops would be American, saying there would be troops from other Nato countries and "some other Muslim nations".
And he gave a frank assessment of his often thorny relationship with Washington, his principal foreign backer.
"America does not trust me and I do not trust them. I have had struggles with them and they have spread propaganda against me," he said.
The Taliban have condemned the Loya Jirga as an American plot and threatened to target its delegates if they approve the deal.
Highlighting the threat, last week a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb near the Jirga area, killing 12 people, most of them civilians.