Negotiations on security pact to resume soon, hopes US

WASHINGTON (PAN on the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) would resume and the two sides would be able to sign the pact soon. 

The negotiations, which were nearing completion, were suspended by Kabul‘s political office in Doha last month when the US announced to hold direct meetings with the group’s representatives in Qatar..

“We want Afghans to sit down with Afghans and start talking about their future,” the State Department spokesperson, Patrick Ventrell, told reporters at his daily news conference in Washington.

While commenting on the issue, the spokesman said: “My understanding is that they (BSA talks) are still suspended.”

As President Barack Obama and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai affirmed in January, an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation process was the surest way to end violence and ensure lasting stability in Afghanistan and the region, he added. 

“But they also agreed that a bilateral security agreement is in both countries’ interests, in that same meeting, to maintain a post-2014 presence that is sustainable and that supports capable and effective Afghan National Security Forces,” Ventrell said.

He reaffirmed the US support for a peaceful, democratic and united Afghanistan. “We’re committed to peace and reconciliation. And we remain prepared to negotiate with Afghanistan to conclude a BSA that supports our shared objectives.”

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