Friday, February 14, 2014

White House May Delay Signing of BSA Until New Afghan President Takes Office

The White House is considering delaying the signing of the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) with Afghanistan until after the new president of Afghanistan takes office. It is very unlikely that Karzai will sign the BSA; and it is time to treat him like the 'lame duck' that he is. While the Afghan election is scheduled for April 5, 2014 it is very likely going to be headed for a run-off that takes place later in the summer. There are eleven candidates running and if the winner doesn't get 50% of the vote a run-off will be scheduled. That means the BSA won' be signed until later in the summer; providing ISAF, the U.S., and the international community three to four months to either pull out of Afghanistan completely or to implement plans to keep up to 16,000 troops in Afghanistan past December 2014. 10,000 would be from the United States and 6,000 from other NATO countries. Read more in "U.S. said to mull shifting Afghanistan exit plans", United Press International, February 11, 2014.

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