After months of frustrations with Kabul over the fate of bilateral security agreement, President Barack Obama has ordered the Pentagon to have plans in place for the possibility of full American withdrawal from Afghanistan by the end of the year.
In a telephonic call with President Hamid Karzai, the US leader also said if Washington and Kabul conclude a BSA, America will have a limited post-2014 mission focused on training, advising, and assisting Afghan forces and going after the remnants of core al Qaeda.
“With regard to the Bilateral Security Agreement, in advance of the NATO Defense Ministerial, President Obama told President Karzai that because he has demonstrated that it is unlikely that he will sign the BSA, the United States is moving forward with additional contingency planning,” the White House said after Obama called Karzai.
“Specifically, President Obama has asked the Pentagon to ensure that it has adequate plans in place to accomplish an orderly withdrawal by the end of the year should the United States not keep any troops in Afghanistan after 2014,” the White House statement added.
A readout of the call noted that “At the same time, should we have a BSA and a willing and committed partner in the Afghan government, a limited post-2014 mission focused on training, advising, and assisting Afghan forces and going after the remnants of core Al Qaeda could be in the interests of the United States and Afghanistan.
“Therefore, we will leave open the possibility of concluding a BSA with Afghanistan later this year. However, the longer we go without a BSA, the more challenging it will be to plan and execute any U.S. mission. Furthermore, the longer we go without a BSA, the more likely it will be that any post-2014 U.S. mission will be smaller in scale and ambition,” the White House added.