New Afghan government to ink Bilateral Security Agreement

Afghan presidential advisor on national security Rangin Dadfar Spanta Saturday said that the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) between Kabul and Washington would be signed Tuesday.

"I am in favour of inking bilateral security agreement with US and NATO," Spanta said at a security conference opened in Herat city.

The presidential inauguration ceremony is scheduled for Sep 29 during which the president-elect Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai will assume office from outgoing president Hamid Karzai to mark the first peaceful power transition in Afghanistan's history, Xinhua reported.

Afghans in a traditional "Loya Jirga" or grand assembly of tribal elders, government functionaries and politicians in Nov 2013 endorsed the BSA and urged President Hamid Karzai to ink the agreement at an early date, a demand which has been refused by Karzai.

Inking BSA would allow the US to keep limited number of troops in Afghanistan after the 2014 pullout of NATO-led forces from the country to train and advise the Afghan national security forces.