Afghan MPs demand annulment of deal allowing US troops to stay

KABUL, 30 May. - (ANA) - The agreement was signed in 2014 after the inauguration of President Ashraf Ghani, permitting a portion of NATO's troops, mostly American, to remain in the country.

Members of the Meshrano Jirga (upper house of the Afghan parliament) slammed the security agreement, signed by the Afghan and US governments in 2014 as "ineffective" and called for its cancellation, Ariana News reported.

"The security agreement with the United States should come into reconsideration because the U.S. has not acted based on this accord. The issue is harmful to the country and deteriorating the security situation," Senator Qais Wakil said.

Another senator, Zalmai Zabuli, suggested that since the US can't deliver "decisive action to address the current [security] situation," Kabul should withdraw from the accord. He also added that the US was "ignoring Afghanistan's national interests" in the agreement and was pursuing only its own.

The session of the senate was devoted to the "deteriorating security in Afghanistan." Security officials of the country were summoned to comment on the issue, including on the US-Afghanistan security agreement, but failed to show up.

The Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) was signed by Kabul and Washington in 2014. According to the agreement, after the conclusion of the NATO mission in Afghanistan, some 12,000 foreign soldiers are permitted to remain in order to sustain peace and security in the country, with 9,800 of them being Americans, while the rest are troops provided by other NATO members.

The conclusion of the agreement was one of the election promises of incumbent Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. His predecessor, Hamid Karzai, for a long time refused to sign the treaty with the US government, referring to the fact that the US' war in the region was never waged in the interests of the country.  - (ANA) -

AB/ANA/30 May 2018 - - -