Sunday, October 06, 2013

U.S. at odds with Afghanistan over the post-withdrawal mission --- WASHINGTON — Closed-door negotiations to determine the American military mission in Afghanistan after 2014 have stalled over U.S. demands to conduct lethal counter-terrorism operations and Afghan insistence that Washington guarantee support in event of cross-border attacks. --- President Hamid Karzai is balking at Obama administration demands that U.S. special operations troops and the CIA be allowed to capture or even kill suspected terrorists after most U.S. troops close out America's longest war at the end of next year, according to officials familiar with the negotiations. --- The U.S. team, in turn, is refusing to include written promises to come to Afghanistan's aid if it is attacked by militants from neighboring Pakistan or elsewhere after the withdrawal. A formal U.S. defense commitment could require Congress to vote on the agreement, a course the White House is determined to avoid given the bitter partisan climate in Washington. - latimes

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