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American and Afghan officials are locked in increasingly acrimonious secret talks about a long-term security agreement which is likely to see US troops, spies and air power based in the troubled country for decades.
Though not publicised, negotiations have been under way for more than a month to secure a strategic partnership agreement which would include an American presence beyond the end of 2014 the agreed date for all 130,000 combat troops to leave despite continuing public debate in Washington and among other members of the 49-nation coalition fighting in Afghanistan about the speed of the withdrawal.
American officials admit that although Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, recently said Washington did not want any "permanent" bases in Afghanistan, her phrasing allows a variety of possible arrangements.
"There are US troops in various countries for some considerable lengths of time which are not there permanently," a US official told the Guardian.
British troops, Nato officials say, will also remain in Afghanistan long past the end of 2014, largely in training or mentoring roles.
Although they will not be "combat troops" that does not mean they will not take part in combat. Mentors could regularly fight alongside Afghan troops, for example.
Senior Nato officials also predict that the insurgency in Afghanistan will continue after 2014.
There are at least five bases in Afghanistan which are likely candidates to house large contingents of American special forces, intelligence operatives, surveillance equipment and military hardware post-2014. In the heart of one of the most unstable regions in the world and close to the borders of Pakistan, Iran and China, as well as to central Asia and the Persian Gulf, the bases would be rare strategic assets.
News of the US-Afghan talks has sparked deep concern among powers in the region and beyond. Russia and India are understood to have made their concerns about a long-term US presence known to both Washington and Kabul. China, which has pursued a policy of strict non-intervention beyond economic affairs in Afghanistan, has also made its disquiet clear. During a recent visit, senior Pakistani officials were reported to have tried to convince their Afghan counterparts to look to China as a strategic partner, not the US.
American negotiators will arrive later this month in Kabul for a new round of talks. The Afghans rejected the Americans' first draft of a strategic partnership agreement in its entirety, preferring to draft their own proposal. This was submitted to Washington two weeks ago. The US draft was "vaguely formulated", one Afghan official told the Guardian.
We are still in Germany and Japan 60 years after World War II
And still have troops in South Korea
So this doesn't surprise me at all
We are still in Germany and Japan 60 years after World War II
And still have troops in South Korea
So this doesn't surprise me at all
Our troops in Germany, Japan and South Korea don't get mortars and rockets shot at them on a daily basis either.
We are still in Germany and Japan 60 years after World War II
And still have troops in South Korea
So this doesn't surprise me at all
Our troops in Germany, Japan and South Korea don't get mortars and rockets shot at them on a daily basis either.
And that's not going to ever change.
The Afghan people have been fighting invaders for centuries.
It's in their DNA
Our troops in Germany, Japan and South Korea don't get mortars and rockets shot at them on a daily basis either.
And that's not going to ever change.
The Afghan people have been fighting invaders for centuries.
It's in their DNA
I don't think the troops should stay, Afghanistan is never going to be the country we want it to, it is always going to be a corrupt third world shit hole and we need to get our troops out of there.
