Rassoul: U.S.-Afghan strains to ebb as foreign forces withdraw --- (Reuters) - Severe strains in Afghan ties with the United States, the chief backer of the international military mission in Afghanistan, are likely to subside as U.S. and NATO forces depart, a contender in a presidential election in April said. -- "The long-term stay of any force, in any country, will create a problem. The international community will not stay in Afghanistan forever - they should not stay forever," former Foreign Minister Zalmay Rassoul said in an interview this week. -- "The Afghan people want a friendship with the United States, but at the same time we need to make sure that Afghanistan will be a long-term, sovereign friend of the United States. So I have no worry about the future relation of Afghanistan and the United States, in the framework of respect for our sovereignty," he said. -- "The Afghan people want a friendship with the United States, but at the same time we need to make sure that Afghanistan will be a long-term, sovereign friend of the United States. So I have no worry about the future relation of Afghanistan and the United States, in the framework of respect for our sovereignty," he said. -- Rassoul, who stepped down from his post as Afghanistan's top diplomat to run in the April 5 polls, is widely seen as the favored candidate of President Hamid Karzai, who U.S. officials blame for fueling tension with the West. Karzai has served two terms and cannot run again. -- The diplomat, a former top aide to Karzai who also served as Karzai's national security adviser, led Afghan dealings with the Obama administration as the two countries negotiated a partnership agreement governing U.S.-Afghan ties as U.S. and foreign troops steadily withdraw ahead of a year-end deadline. -- Rassoul's role as chief interlocutor with the West suggests that he might seek to smooth over ties with Washington, where lawmakers and officials have grown increasingly frustrated as what they see as erratic and provocative action by Karzai, who Western nations backed as Afghanistan's first leader after the ouster of the Taliban government in 2001. --- Rassoul declined comment on whether his former boss should sign the U.S.-Afghan bilateral security agreement (BSA), a counterpart to that first partnership deal, which would authorize a modest U.S. force to stay beyond 2014 to train Afghan troops and go after al Qaeda. The Obama administration had expected Karzai to finalize the BSA following its endorsement by tribal elders late last year. -- Rassoul said that if he were elected president he would sign the deal, with the goal of securing advice, funding and military gear for Afghan forces. -- "What I can say is that the BSA, the way it was prepared, is good for Afghanistan," he said. - More, at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/17/us-afghanistan-elections-interview-idUSBREA1G0C420140217