NATO seeks clarity on troops in Afghanistan
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published — Wednesday 4 December
2013
BRUSSELS: Diplomats vexed over Afghanistan’s
future applied new pressure on the war-torn nation’s leaders Tuesday to agree to
allow thousands of foreign troops to remain there beyond next year, or risk
being left with no international military force assistance.
US and NATO officials made in discussions in Brussels that they do not
want to go to the so-called zero option in Afghanistan — even if doing so could
free up thinning resources for other crises that may pose a greater threat to
the world.
But Afghan President Hamid
Karzai’s refusal — so far — to agree to a continued troop presence past 2014
puts the US
and its strongest traditional allies in the awkward political position of
threatening to leave even as they make the case to stay.
If Karzai continues to block an
agreement, “there can be no deployment and the planned assistance will be put
at risk,” NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Tuesday before the
start of an annual meeting of diplomats and security officials.
“It is my firm hope and intention
therefore to continue our efforts to support Afghanistan, once these agreements
are concluded,” Rasmussen said. He stopped short of demanding a deadline for Afghanistan’s president to sign a bilateral
security pact with the United
States. NATO has said such a pact is needed
to move forward with its own plans to help the country after the combat mission
ends in 2014 and local forces take full control of security.
American officials, led by
national security adviser Susan Rice, have demanded that Karzai sign a security
agreement with the US
by the end of the year. Failure to do so, the officials have said, would leave Washington with little
choice but to prepare for a full troop withdrawal.
US officials have said that the US and NATO
could keep between 8,000 and 12,000 troops there. Of those, the US is expected
to provide no more than 8,000 to train, equip and assist Afghan security
forces.
If Karzai rejects the US agreement,
any alternate pact with NATO will almost certainly fall through as well,
officials said.
Karzai has tentatively endorsed
the deal, but refuses to sign it. He has said it is a decision that should be
left to his successor after Afghan presidential elections next April.
Additionally, Karzai wants all
airstrikes and foreign raids on Afghan homes to stop if the United States
expects him to sign it. He upbraided the US for a drone strike that killed a
child last week. Civilian deaths at the hands of US and allied soldiers have
been a key source of contention in increasingly tense relations with Karzai
over the years.
Afghanistan
Marc
Grossman was a special representative for Afghanistan, and
a director at the Atlantic Council of
the United States
(think tank).
Note: Richard C.
Holbrooke was a special U.S.
envoy for Afghanistan,
and a director at the Atlantic Council
of the United States
(think tank).
Zalmay Khalilzad
was a U.S. ambassador for Afghanistan,
and is a director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States
(think tank).
Henry A. Kissinger is a director at the
Atlantic Council of the United
States (think tank), a director at the
American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference
participant (think tank).
Kissinger and Shultz Give Thumbs-Down to Iran Deal (Past
Research)
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
George P. Shultz was an honorary
director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), and
a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank).
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, and the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Ivo
H. Daalder was a senior fellow at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and is the U.S. permanent representative for NATO.
Karl Eikenberry
was the deputy chairman of military committee for NATO, and the U.S.
ambassador, commander of combined forces for Afghanistan.
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