‘The delay in signing negatively affects confidence in the region as well as our and our allies’ ability to plan a potential follow-on mission.’
‘And with the drawdown already ongoing, decisions have to be made soon about issues such as base closures and force levels,’ White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said.
‘So without a BSA, near-term decisions about those issues would have to be made accordingly. And as you know, absent a BSA we can’t maintain any kind of troop presence in Afghanistan beyond 2014,’ he asserted.
Though there is no deadline to sign the BSA, Carney said this has to be a matter of weeks and not months.
‘It’s a simple equation when you’re talking about the kind of planning that has to go into structuring a troop presence and a mission for post-2014 in Afghanistan, a mission that would be focused on two things: counter-terrorism, and aiding and supporting and training Afghan troops,’ he said.
‘As all these things are for the Department of Defence, that’s a complicated piece of business that requires a serious amount of planning, rather, for US forces and with our NATO partners. So this is not something that can drag on for very long,’ he said.
‘Our position continues to be that if we cannot conclude a Bilateral Security Agreement promptly with the Afghan government, then we will initiate planning for a post-2014 future in which there would be no US and no NATO troop presence in Afghanistan,’ Carney said.
‘That’s not the future we’re seeking, and we do not believe that it is in Afghanistan’s interests to pursue that future either,’ he said.
State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki said the US recognises that civilian needs in Afghanistan will not end with the end of the combat mission this year.
India supports troops’ stay in Afghanistan
New Delhi: Rejecting an ‘exit strategy’ for Afghanistan, India on Thursday pitched for ‘closest international support’ to prevent decade-long achievements from going ‘waste’ in the war-torn country, where the US plans a total pull-out by this year end in absence of bilateral security agreement (BSA).
Addressing the meeting of the International Contact Group (ICG) on Afghanistan-Pakistan, attended by representatives from 53 countries, external affairs minister Salman Khurshid said Afghanistan was at a critical juncture.
‘And with the drawdown already ongoing, decisions have to be made soon about issues such as base closures and force levels,’ White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said.
‘So without a BSA, near-term decisions about those issues would have to be made accordingly. And as you know, absent a BSA we can’t maintain any kind of troop presence in Afghanistan beyond 2014,’ he asserted.
Though there is no deadline to sign the BSA, Carney said this has to be a matter of weeks and not months.
‘It’s a simple equation when you’re talking about the kind of planning that has to go into structuring a troop presence and a mission for post-2014 in Afghanistan, a mission that would be focused on two things: counter-terrorism, and aiding and supporting and training Afghan troops,’ he said.
‘As all these things are for the Department of Defence, that’s a complicated piece of business that requires a serious amount of planning, rather, for US forces and with our NATO partners. So this is not something that can drag on for very long,’ he said.
‘Our position continues to be that if we cannot conclude a Bilateral Security Agreement promptly with the Afghan government, then we will initiate planning for a post-2014 future in which there would be no US and no NATO troop presence in Afghanistan,’ Carney said.
‘That’s not the future we’re seeking, and we do not believe that it is in Afghanistan’s interests to pursue that future either,’ he said.
State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki said the US recognises that civilian needs in Afghanistan will not end with the end of the combat mission this year.
India supports troops’ stay in Afghanistan
New Delhi: Rejecting an ‘exit strategy’ for Afghanistan, India on Thursday pitched for ‘closest international support’ to prevent decade-long achievements from going ‘waste’ in the war-torn country, where the US plans a total pull-out by this year end in absence of bilateral security agreement (BSA).
Addressing the meeting of the International Contact Group (ICG) on Afghanistan-Pakistan, attended by representatives from 53 countries, external affairs minister Salman Khurshid said Afghanistan was at a critical juncture.