Tweet
Karzai spells out conditions for long-term US bases
KABUL (AFP) - President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday outlined his conditions for long-term United States (US) military bases in Afghanistan at a key four-day gathering of elders, saying that Kabul wants national sovereignty 'today'.
'We want our national sovereignty and we want it today,' he told the gathering preparing to debate Afghanistan's long-term ties with the United States when the bulk of foreign combat troops leave in 2014.
'We want our relationship with America to be one of two independent countries,' he told the loya jirga, a traditional gathering of influential Afghans in a consultation process whose outcome will be non-binding.
Mr Karzai said the United States must stop night raids and building parallel institutions in Afghanistan as a condition of a strategic partnership agreement between the two nations.
KABUL (AFP) - President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday outlined his conditions for long-term United States (US) military bases in Afghanistan at a key four-day gathering of elders, saying that Kabul wants national sovereignty 'today'.
'We want our national sovereignty and we want it today,' he told the gathering preparing to debate Afghanistan's long-term ties with the United States when the bulk of foreign combat troops leave in 2014.
'We want our relationship with America to be one of two independent countries,' he told the loya jirga, a traditional gathering of influential Afghans in a consultation process whose outcome will be non-binding.
Mr Karzai said the United States must stop night raids and building parallel institutions in Afghanistan as a condition of a strategic partnership agreement between the two nations.