When NATO leaves Afghanistan

[unhappycamper]

http://atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/SOU-02-191213.html



When NATO leaves Afghanistan
By Giuliano Battiston
Dec 19, '13

ALALABAD, Afghanistan - Afghanistan's 30 million people are deeply divided over whether President Hamid Karzai should sign the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) with Washington that will allow US military operations to continue in the conflict-ravaged country after NATO forces leave in 2014. Some believe the BSA is important for stability in Afghanistan, others say it could invite further trouble from insurgents. Yet others believe signing the pact would antagonize countries like Pakistan and Iran.

"We are a weak country, militarily, economically and politically. That's why we need the agreement. We have to make a very pragmatic choice: accept the Americans here or face a very uncertain future with no country willing to help us," Hedayatullah Amam, a businessman in his 50s, told IPS.

The US wants to sign the pact soon as possible, but President Karzai wants to wait it out till the next presidential elections in April 2014. However, many in Afghanistan see it as mere posturing on his part.

"Karzai will sign the agreement for sure," said Amam who was travelling in a shared taxi from capital Kabul to Jalalabad, 120 km away. "He is just playing a political game to present himself as a man protecting national sovereignty, but that will be over soon. I predict he will approve the agreement within one month, maximum two."

[dipsydoodle]

1. Meanwhile - back at the ranch

Russia to Train Sappers for Afghan Army.

MOSCOW, December 18 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian military will train combat engineers for the Afghan army to ensure safe and efficient mine sweeping in the war-torn Central Asian country, Russia’s defense minister said Wednesday.

“We are working on the creation of a training center to prepare sappers for mine sweeping in Afghanistan,” Sergei Shoigu said at a meeting with university students in Moscow.

Shoigu said that the training would be carried out through interpreters speaking dialects commonly used in Afghanistan.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which has been fighting the radical Islamist Taliban movement in Afghanistan since 2001, is expected to withdraw from the war-torn country by the end of 2014, handing over responsibility for security in Afghanistan to local police and military forces.

http://en.ria.ru/military_news/20131219/185700455/Russia-to-Train-Sappers-for-Afghan-Army.html