BELGIUM: NATO's Amders Fogh Rasmussen says Afghan President Hamid Karzai's failure to sign security pact with the United States would put the Alliance's mission at risk

Record ID: 859366

  • Title: BELGIUM: NATO's Amders Fogh Rasmussen says Afghan President Hamid Karzai's failure to sign security pact with the United States would put the Alliance's mission at risk
  • Date: 3rd December 2013
  • Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (DECEMBER 3, 2013) (REUTERS) SCULPTURE AND NATO MEMBERS FLAGS OUTSIDE HEADQUARTERS SECURITY
  • Embargoed: 18th December 2013 12:00
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  • Location: Belgium
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  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVAZ3MAGQA5A4R63WZCE966P4XW
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  • Story Text: NATO would have to pull all its troops out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014 if Afghan President Hamid Karzai does not sign a security pact with the United States, alliance chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Tuesday (December 3).
    An assembly of Afghan elders, the Loya Jirga, last month endorsed the security pact intended to shape the U.S. military presence in the country beyond 2014. But Karzai said he might not sign it until after elections in April.
    The NATO-led force currently has around 80,000 troops in Afghanistan, the majority American. NATO is winding down combat operations, handing responsibility for fighting Taliban insurgents to the Afghans, before most foreign combat forces pull out by the end of 2014.
    NATO plans to leave a training mission, expected to number 8,000 to 12,000 soldiers, in Afghanistan after 2014.
    The United States has already warned it could withdraw all its forces by the end of next year, the so-called "zero option", if Karzai does not sign the pact.
    Without the U.S.-Afghan accord, NATO will not be able to finalise its own agreement with the Afghan government setting the terms for troops from other NATO and partner nations to remain in Afghanistan after 2014, Rasmussen told reporters.

    "But it is clear that if there is no signature on the legal agreement, there can be no deployment and the planned assistance will be put at risk. It is my firm hope, and intention therefore, to continue our efforts to support Afghanistan once these agreements are concluded," Rasmussen told reporters arriving to a foreign ministers meeting at the Alliance headquarters.
    He voiced hope Karzai would follow the advice of the Loya Jirga and sign.

    "We have pledged to contribute to financing the Afghan security forces. That assistance is put at risk if we can't deploy our own training mission to Afghanistan and furthermore the international community has pledged to provide development assistance to Afghanistan. That aid might also be put at risk. So a lot is at stake and I'm hopeful that the bilateral security agreement between Afghanistan and the United States will be signed and pave the way for a NATO legal framework so that we can deploy a training mission after 2014," he said.
    The agreement that NATO needs with Afghanistan is modelled on the proposed U.S. pact and, in any case, Washington is expected to supply most of the forces for the post-2014 NATO mission, so without the United States, the mission is unlikely to be feasible.
    NATO foreign ministers meet in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss Afghanistan. The delay in signing the U.S.-Afghan security pact is causing mounting frustration among NATO diplomats because it is holding up detailed military planning for the post-2014 mission.
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