Karzai delays signing new US-Afghan military pact

Permanent Bases in the the supremely strategic  heartland of resource rich Central Asia. That is what is fueling the many wars in Afghanistan. Wars that were and are about COLONIALISM.Colonialism that has become a Neo Colonialism, with the same Western 'interests' continuing to plunder the world and rip off its people. 

Hamid Karzai delays signing new US-Afghan military pact

Afghan president puts negotiations in crisis saying plan for retaining US forces should be signed after presidential elections 

Emma Graham-Harrison in Kabul

The tumultuous relationship between Washington and Kabul plunged back into crisis hours after leaders from both sides pinned down the final details of a long-term military co-operation pact, which was expected to put a seal on a year of difficult negotiations.

The Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, blindsided US diplomats – and reportedly some of his own advisers – with a suggestion on Thursday that the bilateral security agreement, even if approved, should only be signed after presidential elections next year.

A spokesman for the US president, Barack Obama, responded hours later with a warning that the deal must be signed before the end of this year for the Pentagon to plan its mission in Afghanistan after the final combat troops head home next year.

Failure to finalise a deal would "prevent the United States and our allies from being able to plan for a post-2014 presence in Afghanistan", the White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

The draft pact is being pored over this week by a loya jirga, or grand assembly, in Kabul of hand-picked delegates from around the country who are largely in favour of the deal and are expected to approve it in a nominally independent vote.

It was expected to be a largely ceremonial seal on a complex process, spreading the political risk of acceding to another decade of US soldiers on Afghan soil away from a president always wary of being branded a US puppet.

But in his opening speech to 2,500 delegates, and after reluctantly commending the pact, Karzai suggested it should only be signed after his successor is chosen in next April's poll. He cannot stand again. "This pact should be signed when the election has already taken place, properly and with dignity," he said.

Still, Karzai has stepped away from ultimatums before, most recently a demand for an absolute ban on US forces entering Afghan homes, and most of the heavyweight candidates vying to replace him are likely to support the pact. The loya jirga could also potentially call on him to sign the deal now.

The agreement is vital to secure the $4bn annual funding Afghan security forces will need after 2014, and training for a still weak and badly equipped force. For Washington it allows counter-terrorism forces to pursue al-Qaida and linked groups along the border, and support a decade of investment in lives and money.

Without it no other nations will leave troops in Afghanistan after 2014, as they need American political backing and on-the-ground support from medical evacuation to food supplies.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/22/hamid-karzai-us-afghan-military-agreement