KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai hinted on Tuesday that his government would be flexible in negotiating ‘sensitive’ issues in a new security pact with the United States.
Follow up:
Karzai did not spell out what issues he was referring to, but one of the most sensitive questions involves immunity from local prosecution for US troops remaining in Afghanistan after NATO forces withdraw in 2014.
Washington recalled all its troops from Iraq after Baghdad refused to grant US soldiers immunity, and Karzai has in the past warned there could be similar problems in Afghanistan.
But in a speech to industrialists and businessmen in Kabul, the president suggested that a deal would be reached.
“With the Americans we will make a deal in which neither the skewer burns nor the kebab,” he said, referring to an Afghan proverb on a settlement which benefits both parties equally.
“Where they are sensitive, we shouldn’t touch too much, but we should consider our interests 100 percent,” he said.
But Karzai also accused the United States of using predictions by the Western media and analysts of post-2014 chaos to put pressure on his government “to surrender to their demands”. He vowed to “stand firm”.
Negotiations on the security pact were launched this month but negotiators said the immunity issue was not discussed in the first round. US President Barack Obama is weighing plans to keep roughly 10,000 US troops in Afghanistan after the NATO-led force hands over security to the Afghan government, a senior US official said this week.
The troop levels under consideration remain tentative but the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said options under consideration range from 6,000 to 15,000 American boots on the ground.
The follow-on force would carry out counter-terrorism operations against al Qaeda and provide training and logistical support for Afghan forces, Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has said.
The US has about 66,000 troops in NATO’s total force in Afghanistan of slightly more than 100,000.
Related
tags:
latest
urdu news,urdu newspaper,daily urdu news, Islamic news,Islamic urdu site,urdu
sites,world news,india Pakistan news,Arabic country news,urdu news,urdu
articles,urdu magazine,urdu website,
Latest
news, latest urdu news, world news, current affairs, breaking news, arab country
news, sport news, cricket news, daily news, Islamic news, india news, Pakistan
news, india Pakistan news, current news,
Latest
news, latest urdu news, world news, current affairs, breaking news, arab
country news, sport news, cricket news, daily news, Islamic news, india news,
Pakistan news, india Pakistan news, current news,
Latest
news, latest urdu news, world news, current affairs, breaking news, arab
country news, sport news, cricket news, daily news, Islamic news, india news,
Pakistan news, india Pakistan news, current news,Current affairs, Economic
Affairs,Islam and Human Rights, Islam and Politics , Islam and the West, Muslim
Media, Islamic Society, Islamic World,Latest World News,
breaking news ,Top Breaking News, Current Affairs, daily news, recent
news, news headlines
No comments:
Post a Comment