US senators visit Karzai, try to bully him to agree on terms of troops deal
Afghanistan plans to release hundreds of prisoners from Bagram prison, which was handed over from US control only after a deal was reached in March after intense negotiations because Washington feared dangerous inmates would be freed.
The disagreement further strains relations between the two countries, which are already at breaking point over President Hamid Karzai’s refusal to sign a bilateral security deal to shape the post-2014 US military presence in the country.
Without the pact, Washington could pull most of its troops out after this year, when most foreign troops are due to exit. The senators told Karzai that releasing dangerous prisoners would irreparably damage ties with the United States, but stopped short of saying it would prompt a full military withdrawal after 2014.
‘If these releases go ahead it will do irreparable damage to the relationship,’ Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told reporters at a news conference in Kabul on Thursday. Washington considers 88 of some 650 prisoners marked for release a serious threat to security, saying they are responsible for wounding or killing 57 Afghans and 60 US and coalition troops.
It wants them to be investigated and tried. Afghanistan says there is not enough evidence to keep them detained.
Karzai has called the so-called ‘zero option’ over the pact an empty threat and suggested any deal can wait until after the presidential elections in April.
The disagreement further strains relations between the two countries, which are already at breaking point over President Hamid Karzai’s refusal to sign a bilateral security deal to shape the post-2014 US military presence in the country.
Without the pact, Washington could pull most of its troops out after this year, when most foreign troops are due to exit. The senators told Karzai that releasing dangerous prisoners would irreparably damage ties with the United States, but stopped short of saying it would prompt a full military withdrawal after 2014.
‘If these releases go ahead it will do irreparable damage to the relationship,’ Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told reporters at a news conference in Kabul on Thursday. Washington considers 88 of some 650 prisoners marked for release a serious threat to security, saying they are responsible for wounding or killing 57 Afghans and 60 US and coalition troops.
It wants them to be investigated and tried. Afghanistan says there is not enough evidence to keep them detained.
Karzai has called the so-called ‘zero option’ over the pact an empty threat and suggested any deal can wait until after the presidential elections in April.