Commission tasked with security for Loya Jirga

KABUL to be held in Kabul next month to decide on the fate of a key security pact between Kabul and Washington.

Headed by Rahmatullah Nabil, the acting spymaster, the commission had been directed to come up with elaborate security plans for the grand assembly due to take place between October 18 and 21, the Presidential Palace said in a statement on Monday.

Deputy interior minister Mohammad Ayub Salangi, Mohammad Aslam Massoud and Brig. Gen. Afzal Aman have been appointed as members of the commission, the statement said.

Other members of the body are Brig. Gen. Syed Asadullah Mashkori, Brig. Gen. Abdul Ahad Mohammadi and Brig. Gen. Mohammad Massoud Andarabi.

Issued by the Council of Ministers Secretariat, the statement said the commission had been directed to give security of the Loya Jirga a top priority.

About 3,000 tribal elders and civil leaders will gather to decide the fate of the Bilateral Security Agreement allowing some US troops to stay in the country after 2014.

The meeting will either accept or reject the deal that has already been the subject of months of negotiations between Afghanistan and the US.

President Hamid Karzai has said that only a loya jirga could pass judgment on an issue of Afghan national sovereignty, with legal immunity for US troops remaining a potential sticking point in discussions.

The event organisers say leaders of the Taliban would be welcome to attend the event.

The collapse of a similar security agreement with Iraq in 2011 led to the US pulling its troops out of the country, which is currently suffering its worst sectarian violence since 2008.

mrh/ma

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