Thousands of Afghan tribal and political leaders to gather in Afghan capital to decide if U.S. troops stay or go

Thousands of Afghan
tribal and political leaders will gather in
the Afghan capital this week to decide
whether to allow U.S. troops to stay
after the 2014 drawdown of foreign
forces.
The fate of a U.S.-Afghan security deal
that will determine whether U.S. forces
stay or not is in the hands of 2,500
tribal chieftains and notables who will
meet in a giant tent on Thursday for
five days of deliberations.
Without an accord on the Bilateral
Security Agreement, the United States
says it could pull out all of its troops at
the end of 2014, leaving Afghanistan's
fledgling security forces on their own to
fight the Taliban-led insurgency.
Security was tight in Kabul ahead of the
Loya Jirga, a traditional Afghan grand
assembly convened to debate matters
of national importance, following a
suicide bomb attack outside the tent
over the weekend.
"The Loya Jirga is crucial for the future
of our country," said Farhad Sediqqi, a
member of parliament who will attend
the assembly.
"Afghanistan needs to have a
partnership and a pact with the United
States."
The meeting comes at a critical
juncture for Afghanistan ahead of a
presidential election next year and
growing anxiety about security as
foreign troops prepare to leave.
With the agreement, a U.S. force of
between 10,000 and 15,000 will remain
in Afghanistan.
Karzai floated the idea of a grand
council in order to muster popular
support for a security deal opposed by
many Afghan politicians and ordinary
people.
In the city of Jalalabad, hundreds of
students rallied against the pact on
Tuesday chanting "Death to America,
death to Karzai, long live the Islamic
Emirates of the Taliban!"
"FARCE"
The Taliban have been waging an
insurgency against Karzai and his
foreign backers, to force out foreign
troops, since 2001 and observers fear
the Afghan security forces will struggle
once most foreign troops leave next
year.
"Through this farce, the Karzai regime
wishes to execute the Americans'
demands and implement a treacherous
deal which in our history will forever be
known as national sedition and a
criminal act against our nation," the
Taliban said in a statement.
Delegates attending the grand
assembly appear to be divided on the
pact and much will rest on Karzai's
opening speech on Thursday, with
many likely to take their cue from him.
If the council votes in favor of the pact
with the United States, it will still need
the approval of both houses of
parliament and the president's
signature before it is ratified.
Just days before the meeting, sources
told Reuters Karzai had rejected a key
provision of the pact stipulating
whether foreign troops will be able to
search Afghan homes, putting the
entire deal in jeopardy.
Two years ago, the United States ended
its military mission in Iraq with a similar
"zero option" outcome leading to the
withdrawal of all of its troops after the
failure of talks with Baghdad.
The United States appeared optimistic
about the Afghan pact.
"We reached general agreement on the
BSA when Secretary Kerry was in Kabul
last month," said Laura Lucas
Magnuson, a spokeswoman for the
White House National Security Council.
"Since then discussions have been
ongoing with the Afghans to finalize the
text ahead of the Loya Jirga. We
continue to believe the BSA is in the
interests of both countries."
(Additional reporting by Dylan Welch,
Matt Spetalnick and Adrian Croft;
Writing by Dylan Welch; Editing by
Maria Golovnina and Robert Birsel)