Crucial negotiations on the status of US forces remaining in Afghanistan after the Nato withdrawal in 2014 will begin in Kabul this week, the foreign ministry said Sunday. A key element of any agreement will be the question of immunity for US troops from prosecution in local courts.
In Iraq, Washington pulled out all of its troops after failing to get Baghdad to grant its soldiers immunity, and President Hamid Karzai has warned there could be similar problems in Afghanistan.
The issue has been highlighted by the massacre of 16 villagers earlier this year, allegedly by a rogue US soldier who was flown out of the country and is facing hearings in the United States. "The official talks on the signing of a security pact will begin between the governments of Afghanistan and USA in Kabul on November 15," foreign ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai told a press conference.
They will be led by the Afghan ambassador to the US, Eklil Hakimi, and Deputy US Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, James Warlick, Mosazai said.
"The security pact will deal with the status of US troops in Afghanistan beyond 2014, the US security mandate and the co-operation of the US government with Afghanistan," he said.