Afghanistan Loya Jirga will determine whether US troops remain after 2014 [View all]

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Associated Press in Kabul
theguardian.com, Saturday 19 October 2013 13.49 BST

A national meeting to discuss the fate of a future security deal with the United States will be held in the third week of November, Afghan officials said on Saturday. The key gathering will decide if America and its allies will keep troops in Afghanistan after 2014 or pack up and leave.

Sadeq Mudaber, a member of the convening commission, said the consultative assembly of tribal elders, or Loya Jirga, will start at some point between 19 and 21 November and could last as long as a week. He expected up to 3,000 people may attend.

A week ago, the US secretary of state, John Kerry, and President Hamid Karzai reached an agreement in principle on the major elements of a deal that would allow American troops to stay after combat troops serving with a Nato-led international military coalition depart at the end of 2014. But in making the dal, Karzai said a potentially deal-breaking issue of jurisdiction over those forces must be debated by the Loya Jirga before he makes a decision.

"In our recent negotiations with the US, we also discussed another important topic, and it was the topic of immunity for US troops in Afghanistan," Karzai said Friday in his weekly radio address. "The decision in this respect is beyond the capacity of Afghan government, and only the Afghan people maintain the authority to decide on it, and the Loya Jirga reflects the will of the Afghan people."

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/19/afghanistan-loya-jirga-us-troops-2014