Afghan council tells Karzai to sign US deal this year

An Afghan council of elders and leaders voted Sunday to approve a U.S.-Afghan security pact and told Afghan President Hamid Karzai to sign it before the end of the year.

{mosads}But Karzai told the council, the Loya Jirga, that he did not intend to sign the security agreement until after the Afghan presidential elections next spring. He asked the Loya Jirga for more time to negotiate, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“We’ll try to bargain more with the Americans on your behalf” and sign the agreement months later, Karzai said.

Karzai’s insistence on waiting to sign the deal until next year has angered U.S. officials, who have demanded that the deal be signed by the end of 2013.

The Afghan president’s refusal threatens the agreement struck between the two countries, which would authorize an undecided number of U.S. troops to stay in Afghanistan until 2024 in training and counterterrorism roles.