The leading Afghan presidential candidate Dr. Abdullah Abdullah has vowed to sign the security agreement in a bid to keep the foreign forces in Afghanistan beyond 2014, if was elected as the next president of Afghanistan.
Dr. Abdullah’s remarks comes as Afghan president Hamid Karzai has so far refused to sign the bilateral security agreement between Kabul and Washington, despite the draft agreement was approved by Afghan elders during the consultative Loya Jirga in November last year.
Both the US and NATO officials have warned to completely withdraw their forces from Afghanistan if the accords were not signed by the Afghan government.
The US and NATO combat troops are currently sheduled to pull out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014, however a small number of US troops and soldiers from the other NATO member countries will remain in Afghanistan beyond 2014 if the agreements were signed by the Afghan government.
In the meantime, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah has said that he would sign an agreement to keep international forces in Afghanistan, and aid dollars flowing, if he were elected to succeed President Hamid Karzai.
“When we are asking President Karzai to sign it, and when we say that it is in the interest of Afghanistan that that agreement is signed sooner rather than later, that means that we will be ready to sign it when time comes,” Dr. Abdullah told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Monday.
Dr. Abdullah also emphasized on the importance of financial and military support of the international community to Afghanistan for the years to come.
“It’s highly risky what President Karzai is pursuing at the moment,” Abdullah said, adding that, “It has creating a shadow over every other thing which is happening in this country, and the people are extremely worried.”
