XPost: talk.politics.guns, sac.politics, rec.crafts.metalworking   
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   From: rsturns12@aol.com   
      
   By THOM SHANKER and ROD NORDLAND   
      
   WASHINGTON — Secretary of State John Kerry announced on   
   Wednesday that the United States and Afghanistan had finalized   
   the wording of a bilateral security agreement that would allow   
   for a lasting American troop presence through 2024 and set the   
   stage for billions of dollars of international assistance to   
   keep flowing to the government in Kabul.   
      
   The deal, which will now be presented for approval by an Afghan   
   grand council of elders starting on Thursday, came after days of   
   brinkmanship by Afghan officials and two direct calls from Mr.   
   Kerry to President Hamid Karzai, including one on Wednesday   
   before the announcement.   
      
   Just the day before, a senior aide to Mr. Karzai had said the   
   Afghan leader would not approve an agreement unless President   
   Obama sent a letter acknowledging American military mistakes   
   during the 12-year war. But on Wednesday, Mr. Kerry emphatically   
   insisted that a deal was reached with no American apology   
   forthcoming.   
      
   “President Karzai didn’t ask for an apology. There was no   
   discussion of an apology,” Mr. Kerry said. “I mean, it’s just   
   not even on the table.”   
      
   After a war that stands as the longest in American history, the   
   security agreement defines a training and counterterrorism   
   mission in Afghanistan lasting at least 10 more years and   
   involving 8,000 to 12,000 troops, mostly American.   
      
   Despite the sometimes harsh criticism from Afghan officials   
   during the negotiations, the agreement includes concessions that   
   the Obama administration could not win from Iraq during a   
   similar process in 2011, leading to the final withdrawal of   
   American troops there.   
      
   Now, the United States has at least an initial agreement from   
   Afghan officials that American soldiers will not face Afghan   
   prosecution in the course of their duties. And United States   
   Special Operations forces will retain leeway to conduct   
   antiterrorism raids on private Afghan homes — a central American   
   demand that Afghan officials had resisted and described as the   
   last sticking point in negotiations.   
      
   In the end, the Obama administration and the Karzai government   
   had more reason to agree than disagree, according to officials   
   on both sides. American officials do not want to see Afghanistan   
   again become a haven for terrorists after it spent billions of   
   dollars and thousands of lives in the war. And the Afghan   
   leadership knows that more than $4 billion in annual   
   international security assistance would simply not flow absent   
   an American military presence to account for it.   
      
   Still, domestic political risks remain for both presidents   
   today, as well. Some in Afghanistan already criticize Mr. Karzai   
   as the political agent of a long-term foreign military presence.   
   And Mr. Obama must explain to a nation weary of war why he is   
   pressing for a continued military deployment, albeit a smaller   
   one than advocated by American military commanders.   
      
   Further, there is an immediate risk to the deal itself: The   
   bilateral security agreement must now be approved by the Afghan   
   council, known as a loya jirga. About 3,000 elders and leaders,   
   all vetted by the Karzai government, will meet in Kabul for the   
   next three days to weigh the agreement’s language, and it is   
   sure to face at least some criticism.   
      
   “We have agreed on the language that would be submitted to a   
   loya jirga, but they have to pass it,” Mr. Kerry said.   
      
   Draft language of the security agreement that was posted on the   
   Afghan Foreign Ministry website on Wednesday night differed   
   substantially from earlier working documents made available to   
   journalists, seeming to ease off several Afghan demands that   
   officials had publicly described as untouchable. Still, it was   
   unclear whether the posted draft reflected the wording that will   
   be handed out to loya jirga delegates on Thursday morning.   
      
   On the issue of American searches of Afghan homes, the draft   
   proposal avoids the blunt prohibition previously offered by the   
   Afghans, which had stated: “No detention or arrest shall be   
   carried out by the United States forces. The United States   
   forces shall not search any homes or other real estate   
   properties.”   
      
   Instead, the draft states that American counterterrorism   
   operations will be intended to “complement and support” Afghan   
   missions. It underscores that Afghan forces will be in the lead   
   and that any American military operations will be carried out   
   “with full respect for Afghan sovereignty and full regard for   
   the safety and security of the Afghan people, including in their   
   homes.” Even then, though, the wording does not say that   
   American raids of Afghan homes would be conducted only to   
   protect American soldiers’ lives — phrasing that Afghan   
   officials had publicized on Tuesday.   
      
   The agreement itself would not establish a final troop number   
   after the official NATO combat mission ends in December 2014.   
   That detail is still to come from the Obama administration, and   
   the force is expected to comprise 8,000 to 12,000 personnel to   
   train, advise and assist Afghan forces. About two-thirds of that   
   force would be American, and the rest from NATO and other allies.   
      
   “While we are open to keeping a residual force in Afghanistan to   
   carry out the narrow missions of counterterrorism and training,   
   there is no scenario in which those forces would stay in   
   Afghanistan until anywhere near 2024,” a senior administration   
   official said late Wednesday.   
      
   There would be no direct combat role for most of those troops,   
   who would be assigned to major headquarters and not out in the   
   field with Afghan units. There would be a much smaller   
   counterterrorism force envisioned by American and NATO planners.   
      
   The current draft agreement accedes to the central American   
   demand that ended up scuttling the Iraq negotiations: United   
   States military personnel would be subject only to American   
   military law and Afghanistan pledges not to turn them over to   
   any international tribunals.   
      
   The proposed treaty does, however, grant Afghans legal   
   jurisdiction over contractors.   
      
   The document also has a clause committing the United States to   
   consulting with the Afghan government in the event of external   
   threats — stopping well short of the sort of NATO-style mutual   
   defense pact the Afghans originally wanted.   
      
   “The United States shall regard with grave concern any external   
   aggression or threat of external aggression against the   
   sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of   
   Afghanistan,” the proposed agreement states. There is a later   
   clause saying they would “consult urgently” in the event of such   
   aggression.   
      
   The draft concludes, as earlier versions have, that it takes   
   effect Jan. 1, 2015, provided internal approval procedures in   
   both countries are satisfied — in the case of Afghanistan,   
   ratification by the loya jirga and then by Parliament — and then   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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