Karzai agrees to let US troops stay beyond 2014

The US authorities and Afghan President Hamid Karzai reached an agreement in principle on Saturday on the major elements of a deal that would allow American troops to stay in Afghanistan after 2014. However, US officials said a potentially deal-breaking issue of jurisdiction over those forces must still be worked out with some political and tribal leaders in Afghanistan. US officials traveling with secretary of state John Kerry said the deal negotiated with Karzai meets all American conditions, including on the jurisdiction issue, and that all that remains is for Karzai to win political approval for it.

The jurisdiction issue came to the fore after an American soldier, Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, killed 16 people in two villages in southern Afghanistan last year. He was convicted in August by a military court and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of release. The situation deteriorated in the past week following a series of angry comments from Karzai that the US and NATO were repeatedly violating Afghanistan’s sovereignty and inflicting suffering on its people. There currently are an estimated 87,000 international troops in Afghanistan, including about 52,000 Americans and the number will be halved by February, followed by full pullout by the end of next year.