Speaking at the end of a four-day meeting of the Grand Council of Afghanistan, Loya Jirga, on Sunday, Karzai said, “If the US goes into Afghan homes one more time, there will be no agreement, I repeat, if they go into our homes one more time, there will be no agreement.”
The comments came as Loya Jirga, which includes about 2,500 Afghan tribal elders and politicians, endorsed the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) between Afghanistan and the United States.
The security deal allows US troops to stay in Afghanistan beyond 2014.
The issue of whether or not to grant legal immunity to American forces was a sticking point in the deal. Kabul considers the immunity a violation of its sovereignty.
The Afghan president said in an address to the opening session of the four-day meeting on November 21 that the deal would not be signed until after the presidential election of April 2014.
Fazul Karim Imaq, a deputy of the Loya Jirga said, reading a declaration reached at the end of the meeting in Kabul, “The Loya Jirga requests the president to sign the agreement before the end of 2013.”
The agreement also remains to be approved by the Afghan parliament.
Meanwhile, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said, “Failure to get this [agreement] approved and signed by the end of the year would prevent the United States and our allies from being able to plan for a post-2014 presence.”
Afghans say the deal between Washington and Kabul will pave the way for a prolonged US military presence in the country.
The United States has more than 43,000 troops in Afghanistan.
DB/HSN
Source Article from http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/11/24/336396/karzai-sets-conditions-for-us-deal/
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