Defense chief could sign Afghan pact instead of Karzai: Kerry --- (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry suggested on Tuesday that Afghanistan's defense minister or government, instead of a reluctant President Hamid Karzai, could sign a security pact enabling some U.S. troops to stay in the country after 2014. -- Kerry urged the Afghan government to sign the security deal "sooner, not later" and said this priority was backed by all NATO foreign ministers taking part in a meeting on Tuesday. -- "This is not fooling around ... This is serious business," Kerry told a news conference in Brussels. -- "But I think it is important, for planning purposes, for people who have been extraordinarily patient, who are trying to allocate major amounts of money to sustaining this effort in Afghanistan, to have knowledge of where they are going." -- Kerry said he had personally negotiated the agreement with Karzai and did not believe in unilateral renegotiation. -- Other NATO leaders also urged Karzai to swiftly sign the security pact, saying failure to do so could jeopardize Afghan security and up to $8 billion a year in foreign aid. - More, at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/03/us-afghanistan-nato-idUSBRE9B20U820131203?feedType=RSS