Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah would sign U.S. deal
KABUL, Afghanistan – Abdullah Abdullah, a front-runner in April’s presidential race in Afghanistan, vowed Thursday to sign a security agreement with the United States within a month if he wins, echoing widespread Afghan fears that security will deteriorate even further if all international forces leave the country at the end of this year.
Abdullah, who was runner-up in the disputed 2009 election, criticized President Hamid Karzai for refusing to sign the deal that would allow the U.S. and its allies to keep thousands of troops in Afghanistan after ending their 13-year combat mission.
He told the Associated Press that international assistance is still needed to promote security and stability in Afghanistan.
“We think and we believe that we have not reached a point where we can do it ourselves,” he said during an interview at his heavily guarded home in Kabul. “We need to sign it in order to … reach the point where Afghanistan can stand on its own feet in terms of security, to speed up that phase rather than creating a halt in between which is what’s happening today.”
When asked how long it would take to sign the agreement if he is named president, he said: “I think that maximum it has to be signed within a month.”
The issue has been a major thorn in troubled relations between Karzai and the U.S., with major security concerns and billions of dollars in aid money at stake.
The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Joseph Dunford, told a Senate committee Wednesday that he would feel comfortable with having 8,000 and 12,000 troops to assist, train and advise Afghan troops if the government signs the new agreement. He warned the risk was high that Afghan security forces would deteriorate and al-Qaida could regroup without a post-2014 residual force.
The two countries agreed to a deal last year after months of negotiations, but the mercurial Afghan leader surprised the Americans by refusing to sign it.
With many Afghans increasingly worried about a future without international support, other candidates have professed support for the agreement, but Abdullah is the only one so far to give a public time frame to sign it.