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Saturday 12 October 2013

KERRY, KARZAI EXTEND TALKS ON US-AFGHAN PARTNERSHIP.

Afghanistan's President Karzai has extended talks with US Secretary of State Kerry to negotiate a pact determining how many US troops stay in the country after 2014. A decision must be made by the end of the month.

US Secretary of State, John Kerry (CL) meets with Afghan President Hamid Karzai (Photo: JACQUELYN MARTIN/ AFP/Getty Images)

Afghan President Hamid Karzai's spokesman, Aimal Faizi, told reporters on Saturday that "there are still issues we [the US and Afghanistan] are finalizing ... therefore, there is a need for a third round of talks this evening."

Karzai and US Secretary of State John Kerry met Friday (pictured above) for their first round of talks. They appeared to have reached an agreement on the first of the two sticking points: a US request to run independent counterterrorism missions on Afghan territory.

The second sticking point was to reach terms for a US military presence in Afghanistan after 2014. US President Barack Obama had told Karzai last June that if there was no agreement by October 31 on the terms for keeping a residual military presence in Afghanistan, the US could pull out all of its forces by the end of 2014 in an outcome known as the "zero option." The Afghan president has signaled a preference to wait for next spring's elections to decide.

"We will try to see if we can make a little more progress, which we have been doing," Kerry told reporters and US Embassy staff on Saturday.

Another contentious point between the two governments is reportedly Washington's refusal to guarantee the country protection from intervention by foreign forces, primarily from Pakistan.

source:- dw.de

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