pakistani342
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Original text here, excerpts below:
The United States and Afghanistan scrambled to try to finalize a crucial security pact on Wednesday, a day before thousands of Afghan elders were due to start debating whether to allow U.S. troops to stay in the country after 2014.
...
The last-minute politicking between Kabul and Washington provoked frustration among the Afghan tribal and political elders who made perilous journeys from all over the country to the capital Kabul for a grand assembly to debate the pact.
...
"What is happening with the security pact is very confusing for us," said Abdul Hanan, a senator from the eastern province of Paktia.
Last-ditch efforts to finalize the pact stalled on Tuesday amid disagreement over whether U.S. President Barack Obama had agreed to issue a letter acknowledging mistakes made during the 12-year Afghan war.
"The final language is not ready between the two governments," said Aimal Faizi, the Afghan president's spokesman, adding the U.S. State Department was right to say that work remained to be done.
...
The Afghan government said it had received assurances that an Obama letter would be provided this week to the grand council of Afghan elders, known as a Loya Jirga.
But Susan Rice, Obama's national security adviser, insisted that such an offer - which would draw criticism from Republicans and anger American war veterans - was "not on the table".
...
But a Kabul senator, Khan Mohammad Belaghi, said Afghanistan had no choice but to sign:
"We have to have a partnership with a country like the United States and we will vote in favor of it because it can protect us from threats from neighboring countries, especially Pakistan, and the Taliban."
The United States and Afghanistan scrambled to try to finalize a crucial security pact on Wednesday, a day before thousands of Afghan elders were due to start debating whether to allow U.S. troops to stay in the country after 2014.
...
The last-minute politicking between Kabul and Washington provoked frustration among the Afghan tribal and political elders who made perilous journeys from all over the country to the capital Kabul for a grand assembly to debate the pact.
...
"What is happening with the security pact is very confusing for us," said Abdul Hanan, a senator from the eastern province of Paktia.
Last-ditch efforts to finalize the pact stalled on Tuesday amid disagreement over whether U.S. President Barack Obama had agreed to issue a letter acknowledging mistakes made during the 12-year Afghan war.
"The final language is not ready between the two governments," said Aimal Faizi, the Afghan president's spokesman, adding the U.S. State Department was right to say that work remained to be done.
...
The Afghan government said it had received assurances that an Obama letter would be provided this week to the grand council of Afghan elders, known as a Loya Jirga.
But Susan Rice, Obama's national security adviser, insisted that such an offer - which would draw criticism from Republicans and anger American war veterans - was "not on the table".
...
But a Kabul senator, Khan Mohammad Belaghi, said Afghanistan had no choice but to sign:
"We have to have a partnership with a country like the United States and we will vote in favor of it because it can protect us from threats from neighboring countries, especially Pakistan, and the Taliban."
