US government's special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, James Dobbins, on Friday said that the security pact between the countries ought to be signed in the next few weeks.
Reacting to President Hamid Karzai's remarks on the opening of the Loya Jirga, who said that the Kabul-Washington security pact would not be signed - if at all - until after the Presidential elections in April, Dobbins said such a decision would be "most unfortunate" and would prolong "anxiety" and "uncertainly" in both countries.
President Karzai has convened 2,500 tribal elites from across the country for a four-day Loya Jirga to advise on the security agreement with the United States, granting immunity for US troops to be prosecuted under the US law and legalise unilateral operations by the US forces in "exceptional" cases.
"We feel strongly that the agreement ought to be signed as soon as it's approved by the Jirga and then it ought to be sent to the parliament and approved and this ought to occur at some time in the next few weeks," Ambassador Dobbins told TOLOnews.
"The Afghan people are anxious whether the United States and the international community remain committed to their security and wellbeing and frankly the American people and the international community are uncertain about whether the Afghan people really want us," he added.
Washington is "surprised" by President Karzai's statement, arguing it would make impossible for the US and other Nato countries to plan a post-2014 presence in Afghanistan unless the BSA is a done deal by the end of the year.
"We don't intend to stay in Afghanistan alone. We want to stay with a number of other countries equally committed to Afghanistan's security and Afghanistan's prosperity and we need time to build that coalition to ensure that other countries also make commitments," Dobbins said.
The Jirga, which is scheduled to conclude tomorrow, could make some suggestions in the document, but Dobbins said that reopening any of the serious issues would be unhelpful, adding that the document is a balanced one, serving interests of both parties.
The US government has said that without an accord on the BSA, all US troops would leave Afghanistan at the end of 2014, leaving Afghanistan's fledgling security forces on their own to fight the Taliban-led insurgency. But, Mr Dobbins said "zero option" is not an option for the US government.
"The zero option is not an option for us. It's an option obviously for Afghanistan. If Afghanistan doesn't want international troop presence, Afghanistan has only need to say so. If the Loya Jirga or the government doesn't want the Bilateral Security Agreement, they are in fact deciding that they want the United States and the international partners not to stay and of course we will accept and abide by that," Dobbins concluded.
The American-led NATO forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001 following the September 11 attacks in order to oust the Taliban regime and prevent terrorist groups like al-Qaeda from using Afghanistan as a base of operations. Twelve years later, as the coalition withdraws in the lead up to its self-set December, 2014 deadline, there are still around 100,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, out of which 68,000 are American.
The Afghan security forces currently number at around 350,000 men. They're greatest deficiency, according to experts, are logistics. Most are adamant about the US and other coalition countries continuing to advise, train and assist the Afghan forces beyond 2014.
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