The US and Afghanistan are close to clinching an agreement that will give Kabul more authority over night-time raids, resolving an issue that threatened to derail negotiations on a long-term US military presence, US officials said on Tuesday.
“An agreement is days away,” said a US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The deal on night raids could be announced as soon as this week, paving the way for a strategic partnership agreement governing the future of US forces beyond 2014, when the bulk of US and NATO troops are due to withdraw, US officials said.
Night raids by special forces against insurgent hideouts have triggered popular anger and have long been a source of friction with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has denounced the NATO operations as reckless.
The deal taking shape would put Afghans in the lead for night raids and call for Afghan judges to issue warrants for the operations, officials said.
Negotiators from both governments were working out a final sticking point over how long US forces would be allowed to detain suspects picked up in the raids, a US official said. The Afghans wanted suspects promptly transferred to their control, while the US wanted to hold on to the detainees for a period of days to interrogate them and gather intelligence, the official said.
The memorandum of understanding on night raids would allow Karzai to demonstrate that he was bolstering Afghan sovereignty without forcing a halt to operations, the official said. It was also possible that the warrants from Afghan judges could be issued after a night raid was conducted, the official said.
A Pentagon spokesman expressed optimism on Tuesday that a deal was close.
“We believe we’re making progress in heading toward an agreement on this and a broad range of other issues,” Pentagon press secretary George Little said.
The issue of night raids “has been a concern of the Afghan government for some time. We recognize that. We recognize the effectiveness as well that night operations have had over time,” he said.
“And that’s why we’re working through an agreement with our Afghan partners,” he added.
Despite Karzai’s criticism that the raids amount to harassment of local communities, NATO has defended the operations as the safest way of targeting insurgent leaders.
The top commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General John Allen, told the US Senate Armed Services Committee last month that 2,200 night raids were carried out last year.
In 90 percent of the operations, no shots were fired and civilian casualties rarely occurred, according to Allen.
An agreement that will outline the role of US forces beyond 2014 had been held up by disagreements over night raids and the future of detainees held at a US-run prison.
The two sides signed a deal earlier this month on transferring Afghan detainees to the Kabul government’s custody and now a memorandum on night raids should remove the last obstacle to final negotiations on a long-term security agreement, which US officials hope to ink in time for a NATO summit in May in Chicago.
US military officers envisage a follow-on force of roughly 15,000 that would focus on air power, logistics, training, intelligence and counter-terror operations.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, on a visit on Tuesday to NATO’s base in Norfolk, Virginia, said that the US would not “abandon” Afghanistan and anticipated a “small number” of forces to remain after 2014.
“But we do not seek any permanent American military bases in Afghanistan or a presence that is considered a threat to the neighbors,” Clinton said.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number