US national security advisor set to meet Karzai

KABUL): America’s National Security Advisor Susan Rice is set to meet President Hamid Karzai at his office in Kabul on Monday night, US official said, a day after the Afghan leader spurned calls for the early signing of the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA).

On a trip to visit US troops for the Thanksgiving holidays, Rice was meeting Karzai request at his request, the Associated Press quoted a spokesman for the US Embassy and the White House as saying.

Rice’s spokesman Patrick Ventrell confirmed to the British news agency Reuters: “She will meet with Karzai later this evening at his request.” But Ventrell refused to comment on the agenda of the meeting.

On her first foreign visit as national security advisor, Rice reached Afghanistan on the weekend to review the American campaign in the war-torn country.

Despite the BSA endorsement by the four-day Loya Jirga, President Karzai on Sunday rejected calls from the US and the tribal assembly for the signing of the security deal before the end of 2013.

In his address to the concluding session of the jirga, the president said: “If there is no peace, this agreement will bring misfortune to Afghanistan. Peace is our precondition. The US should bring us peace and we will sign it.” 

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