Kerry meets Karzai in Kabul to press for security deal
- 11 years ago
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry meets with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul Friday in an effort to advance negotiations over a security pact that have stalled.
The US wants a deal done by the end of the month. Karzai says it can wait until after presidential elections in April.
The deal will determine the presence of U.S. forces in Afghanistan after most are withdrawn in 2014. Failure to reach an agreement could prompt Washington to pull out all of its forces at the end of 2014, an outcome known as the "zero option".
On the ground Brigadier General Heinz Feldmann says there are some encouraging signs.
SOUNDBITE: BRIGADIER GENERAL HEINZ FELDMANN, SAYING:
"We are almost at the end of the fighting season. We saw hard fighting in Afghanistan. High profile attacks, We saw in the last couple of weeks killing s of Afghan officials. But we also saw that the Afghan National Security forces were able to counter these threats and challenges and they did well
The US wants a deal done by the end of the month. Karzai says it can wait until after presidential elections in April.
The deal will determine the presence of U.S. forces in Afghanistan after most are withdrawn in 2014. Failure to reach an agreement could prompt Washington to pull out all of its forces at the end of 2014, an outcome known as the "zero option".
On the ground Brigadier General Heinz Feldmann says there are some encouraging signs.
SOUNDBITE: BRIGADIER GENERAL HEINZ FELDMANN, SAYING:
"We are almost at the end of the fighting season. We saw hard fighting in Afghanistan. High profile attacks, We saw in the last couple of weeks killing s of Afghan officials. But we also saw that the Afghan National Security forces were able to counter these threats and challenges and they did well