Students protest to keep US troops out
Source: Agencies |
November 21, 2011, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
MORE than 1,000 university students blocked a main highway in eastern Afghanistan yesterday to protest against any agreement that would allow US troops to remain in the country after a planned transfer of authority in 2014.
An assembly of more than 2,000 tribal elders and dignitaries, known as a loya jirga, over the weekend endorsed negotiating a security pact with Washington, though they also backed a series of conditions proposed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai including the end of night raids by international troops and complete Afghan control over detainees.
Yesterday the protesters in Jalalabad denounced any agreement that would keep US troops in the country, blocking the road to Kabul and shouting: "Death to America. Death to Karzai."
Both the resolution and the protests reflect the tension in Afghanistan between a desire for real sovereignty and the need to bolster the relatively weak government against a strong Taliban insurgency.
The idea of the proposed security agreement is to keep a US military presence in Afghanistan past 2014, when most international forces have left.
Afghan and US officials envision a force of several thousand US troops to train Afghan forces and help with counterterrorism operations.
The pact would outline the legal status of that force in Afghanistan, as well as the rules under which it would operate and where it would be based.
The jirga's resolution carries no legal weight, but could bolster Karzai's negotiating position with the US during difficult talks to craft what Washington is calling a strategic partnership document.
An assembly of more than 2,000 tribal elders and dignitaries, known as a loya jirga, over the weekend endorsed negotiating a security pact with Washington, though they also backed a series of conditions proposed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai including the end of night raids by international troops and complete Afghan control over detainees.
Yesterday the protesters in Jalalabad denounced any agreement that would keep US troops in the country, blocking the road to Kabul and shouting: "Death to America. Death to Karzai."
Both the resolution and the protests reflect the tension in Afghanistan between a desire for real sovereignty and the need to bolster the relatively weak government against a strong Taliban insurgency.
The idea of the proposed security agreement is to keep a US military presence in Afghanistan past 2014, when most international forces have left.
Afghan and US officials envision a force of several thousand US troops to train Afghan forces and help with counterterrorism operations.
The pact would outline the legal status of that force in Afghanistan, as well as the rules under which it would operate and where it would be based.
The jirga's resolution carries no legal weight, but could bolster Karzai's negotiating position with the US during difficult talks to craft what Washington is calling a strategic partnership document.
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