Afghanistan’s Outcome a Mystery That Obama Can’t Resolve With His Speech --- President Barack Obama proclaimed in his State of the Union address last year that “our war in Afghanistan will be over” by the end of 2014. When he speaks again tonight, he won’t be able to say how it will end. -- Plans to announce a continuing U.S. presence in the country have been frustrated by President Hamid Karzai’s refusal to sign an agreement for some troops to stay, as he has made a succession of demands, hurled accusations questioning American actions and intentions and ordered the release of prisoners the U.S. and allies call dangerous insurgents. -- While Obama administration officials had said Karzai needed to sign the troop agreement by the end of last month, they should wait until after Afghan’s presidential elections in April and deal instead with his successor, according to David Sedney, former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia. -- “I hope the president leaves the door open for continued discussions” in his State of the Union speech, Sedney said in an interview. “Because the question that Afghans are asking is why can’t we wait for the next Afghan president?” - More, Gopal Ratnam, Bloomberg News, at: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-01-28/afghanistan-outcome-a-mystery-obama-can-t-resolve-in-speech