Karzai Declines Afghan Security Deal in Absence of Peace Process

Monday, January 27, 2014

Karzai Declines Afghan Security Deal in Absence of Peace Process

Bloomberg Home

By Eltaf Najafizada Jan 25, 2014 5:49 AM CT

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he won’t agree to a security accord with the U.S. unless a peace process is begun in his country.
A bilateral security agreement, or BSA, which would enable some U.S. troops to remain in Afghanistan beyond 2014, “can be signed if the U.S honestly starts a peace process,” Karzai said in the Afghan capital, Kabul.
The U.S. and allied forces have said they’ll leave the war-torn nation by the end of 2014 if a BSA isn’t completed. A meeting of tribal elders in November backed such an agreement and urged Karzai to sign it before the end of 2013. The president instead called on the U.S. to start a peace process with the Taliban and ensure transparent elections this year.

Read More Here

.....

Afghan president says U.S. should start talks with Taliban or leave

By Mirwais Harooni

KABUL Sat Jan 25, 2014 8:01am EST

Afghan President Hamid Karzai speaks during a news conference in Kabul January 25, 2014.

Credit: Reuters/Mohammad Ismail

(Reuters) - President Hamid Karzai appeared to stiffen his resolve on Saturday not to sign a security pact with Washington, saying the United States should leave Afghanistan unless it could restart peace talks with the Taliban.
"In exchange for this agreement, we want peace for the people of Afghanistan. Otherwise, it's better for them to leave and our country will find its own way," Karzai told a news conference.
The president said pressing ahead with talks with the Taliban, in power from 1996-2001, was critical to ensure that Afghanistan was not left with a weak central government.
"Starting peace talks is a condition because we want to be confident that after the signing of the security agreement, Afghanistan will not be divided into fiefdoms," he said.
Most diplomats now agree that Karzai is unlikely to sign the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) that would allow for some form of U.S. military presence in Afghanistan after the end of 2014, when most troops are due to leave.
Along with reviving peace talks with the Taliban, Karzai is also demanding an end to all U.S. military operations on Afghan homes and villages, including strikes by pilotless trones.

Read More Here
.....