WASHINGTON, November 20 (RIA Novosti) – US and Afghan officials have agreed on the final language of a bilateral security pact determining the size of US forces in Afghanistan after 2014, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday.
“We have reached an agreement as to the final language of the bilateral security agreement that will be placed before the Loya Jirga” on Thursday, Kerry told reporters, referring to Afghanistan’s grand council of elders, Reuters reported.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, which has been fighting radical Islamists in Afghanistan since 2001, is expected to withdraw from the war-torn country by the end of 2014, leaving responsibility for security in Afghanistan in the hands of local police and military forces.
The United States has said previously that it could leave US advisers in Afghanistan after 2014 to train Afghan military and counterterrorism forces.
US media cited Afghan officials as saying this week that Afghan President Hamid Karzai would agree to allow a smaller number of US personnel to remain in Afghanistan in exchange for a letter from US President Barack Obama acknowledging that US military mistakes had harmed Afghans.
Kerry said Wednesday, however, that Karzai had not asked for an apology from the United States.
“The important thing for people to understand is there has never been a discussion of or the word ‘apology’ used in our discussions whatsoever,” Reuters quoted Kerry as saying.
