Report: U.S. troops could stay in Afghanistan until 2024

[News_Editor]

Report: U.S. troops could stay in Afghanistan until 2024

2011-08-20 10:26:20 GMT+7 (ICT)

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (BNO NEWS) -- Tens of thousands of American troops could stay in Afghanistan for thirteen more years under a strategic pact which the two countries are close to signing, according to a report by the UK's Daily Telegraph on Saturday.

A strategic pact is close to being finalized, according to the media outlet's sources, which would keep U.S. troops - including special forces, air force, and military trainers that work with Afghan soldiers and police - in the Middle Eastern country until 2024.

While Afghan and U.S. security advisers are set to meet in Washington, D.C. next month, U.S. President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai last week advanced negotiations. Karzai's top security adviser, Rangin Dadfar Spanta, told the paper that remarkable progress had been made in extending the U.S. troops' stay.

"If [the Americans] provide us weapons and equipment, they need facilities to bring that equipment," Spanta told the newspaper. "If they train our police and soldiers, then those trainers will not be 10 or 20, they will be thousands."

He added: "We know we will be confronted with international terrorists. 2014, is not the end of international terrorist networks and we have a common commitment to fight them. For this purpose also, the U.S. needs facilities."

According to a member of Karzai's peace council, however, the Taliban would oppose the extension and reported peace negotiations could be further hindered. Neighboring Iran has expressed anger publicly, while Pakistan, the report said, has also done the same, although privately.

A previous agreement to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan and hand over the country's security responsibilities to its national government has already begun. Nonetheless, many analysts believe the U.S. also looks to keep a military presence near Pakistan, Iran, and China, for which Afghanistan would be the best place.

There are currently more than 132,000 ISAF troops in Afghanistan, including some 90,000 U.S. troops and more than 9,500 British soldiers. U.S. President Barack Obama previously ordered a drawdown of 10,000 American troops later this year, with another 23,000 U.S. troops to return home next year.

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