US Closer To 'Zero Option' In Afghanistan As Troops Deal Hits Impasse

[xchrom]

http://www.businessinsider.com/us-closer-to-zero-option-in-afghanistan-as-troops-deal-hits-impasse-2013-11

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai has rejected a provision of a U.S.-Afghan security pact, putting the entire deal in jeopardy just days before the country's elite gather to debate it, a senior Afghan official and a Western diplomat said.

The question of whether foreign troops will be able to search Afghan homes after NATO's combat mission ends next year has long been a sticking point of an agreement setting out the terms under which remaining U.S. forces will operate there.

But in a series of meetings over the weekend the enter-and-search issue emerged as the biggest roadblock facing the security pact as Karzai dug his heels in, the Afghan official, who has been close to the talks, told Reuters.

Without an accord on the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA), Washington says it could pull out all of its troops at the end of 2014, leaving Afghanistan's fledgling security forces on their own to fight the Taliban-led insurgency.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/us-closer-to-zero-option-in-afghanistan-as-troops-deal-hits-impasse-2013-11#ixzz2l0EH0jwg

[dipsydoodle]

1. Taliban-led insurgency......

Karzai has already made it clear that for the US the Taliban will become a complete no go area. The US will be restricted to pursuing al-Qaeda only - suspected to be less than 100 still present in Afghanistan.

[bemildred]

2. Bet on it. Nobody but us wants us there, and a lot of us don't want that either. nt

[xchrom]

3. +1