By Ankit Panda
After nearly a year of waiting, the United States and Afghanistan signed the Bilateral Security Agreement.
After nearly a year-long delay, the United States and Afghanistan on Tuesday signed the long-awaited Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) that will set the legal basis for a residual U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan following the scheduled withdrawal at the end of this year. A similar agreement known as the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) that will allow NATO troops to stay on in Afghanistan was signed as well. The BSA and SOFA were signed just a day after Afghanistan’s new president, Ashraf Ghani, was inaugurated. His predecessor, Hamid Karzai, was originally slated to sign the agreement late last year, giving the United States ample time to plan for the logistics of a concurrent troop withdrawal and setting up a post-2014 contingent. Under the agreement, 9,800 U.S. and approximately 2,000 NATO troops will remain in Afghanistan beyond December 31, 2014.
“This agreement represents an invitation from the Afghan government to strengthen the relationship we have built over the past 13 years and provides our military service members the necessary legal framework to carry out two critical missions after 2014: targeting the remnants of Al Qaeda and training, advising, and assisting Afghan National Security Forces,” Obama noted in a White House statement. “The signing of the BSA also reflects the implementation of the Strategic Partnership Agreement our two governments signed in May 2012,” he added.
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