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After 2014
- Before the next round of international conference diplomacy on Afghanistan in Berlin next month, Washington hopes to complete its bilateral negotiations with Kabul on drafting a Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA).
- This was to include formal arrangements for a residual American military presence in Afghanistan after the US forces end their combat role in 2014.
- The US armed forces that stay on in Afghanistan are expected to focus on training and other missions to strengthen the Afghan National Army.
- It was indeed President Hamid Karzai’s idea that the US and international forces should stay at least 10 years after 2014 to ensure the security of Afghanistan against the Taliban-led insurgency.
- Many of Kabul’s neighbours, especially Pakistan, Iran, Russia and China, are also wary of any long-term US military presence in Afghanistan.
- Washington is hesitant to transfer advanced military equipment or help Kabul develop an air force.
- Karzai wants long-term US financial commitments to sustain a large Afghan national armed force.
- On the one hand he made a vigorous pitch for extended international support for his regime, in the form of a long-term strategic partnership with the US and its allies. On the other, Karzai positioned himself as a nationalist, seeking honour and dignity in an equitable political relationship with the United States.
In a fiery speech on Wednesday, Karzai declared Western powers should not “interfere in our internal affairs. - Karzai promised that he would not allow the US forces to launch strikes against other regional powers from “Afghan soil”.
- Meanwhile, many in Washington are asking if it is worth America’s while to prolong its costly and ineffectual military involvement in Afghanistan.
