No deadline but planning would be difficult without early BSA

US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel has said that an early signing of bilateral security agreement (BSA) would help the United States plan properly its post 2014 presence in Afghanistan.

Hagel denied reports that he has set a deadline to Afghanistan to sign the BSA.

"I don't set the secretary of defence deadlines for nation-to-nation relationships. That is up to the elected leaders to make those decisions," he said yesterday in response to a question at a news conference in Nova Scotia in Canada where he is travelling.

The United States, he said, continues to work with the Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his government.

"Afghanistan is a sovereign nation... We respect that sovereignty," he said.

"If there is to be an agreement going forward with a post-2014 relationship, that bilateral security agreement must be in force before certainly we can plan as to what kind of mission would we have, what do the Afghan people want us to do in helping them with their security and their future, as well as our NATO partners and ISAF partners," Hagel added.