US asks Afghanistan to sign security pact soon

The US has asked Afghanistan to sign a bilateral security agreement with it "as soon as possible", saying further delay was neither practical nor tenable ahead of the drawdown of foreign forces from the war-torn country.
"We have long made clear that we need to get a bilateral security agreement done this year. We've made clear that it's imperative that we do it as soon as possible, and further delay is not practical nor tenable," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters.
Carney was responding to questions yesterday on statements by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who said the signing of the bilateral security agreement (BSA) should be left to the next president to be elected after elections next year.

The Obama Administration has refused to buy the argument.
"The US needs adequate time to plan a potential military mission with our NATO allies and the Afghans have an election coming up and have said that they want certainty about whether the US will be there to support them post-2014, both financially and with respect to training and their security forces," Carney said.
"This process has been undertaken now for some time, and the bottom line is that we need to conclude the agreement with signature between our two governments as quickly as possible, and certainly by the end of this year. Failure to conclude the BSA by that point would make it impossible for the US and our allies to plan for a presence post-2014," Carney argued.

In a message to the Loya Jirga, which is underway in Kabul right now, Carney said, "We've provided the assurances that President Karzai has sought, and we believe the text before the Loya Jirga represents a strong agreement for both parties. We have submitted our final offer on the text, and we hope the Jirga will not be left to think that we are open to rewriting it. It is time to get this done.
Carney informed that the BSA does not specify on the troop presence and its numbers post 2014.
"The president will be making that decision. But we have said that a BSA must be in place because we can't possibly have further US military presence there without an agreement in place," Carney said.