Intense bargaining

On December 22 President Hamid Karzai met a group of national media representatives to share details of the behind-the-scenes talks on the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA).

On December 22 President Hamid Karzai met a group of national media representatives to share details of the behind-the-scenes talks on the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA).
The bargaining is intense and sensitive, the president revealed. He emphasised there was no going back on conditions announced by the government. Unless Washington gave in there was no question of the government’s signing the BSA.
The President said the Afghan government’s terms were in the best interests of the people and country. The US should stop all search operations in civilian homes; the peace process should restart with the support of the US and mediation of Pakistan.
Peace and security were in the country’s national interests, he said. He said Afghanistan knew who was behind the suicide bomb attacks that disturbed and scared people, and what the role of the US was in it.
“I want the US to clarify its vision: what is terrorism? Who is the enemy and who are we fighting for?
The President accused the US of taking “contradictory positions” on terrorism. Those who attack US national interests are involved in terrorism, he said.
Asked by the chief editor of Aqtidar Mili weekly Mohammad Ali Rizwani what his idea of terrorism was, the president replied that any type of activity that results in the killing of humans is terrorism.
The President stressed that his government’s definition of terrorism was playing out on the borders of Afghanistan, and involved regional and international forces. Some of the countries had their own interest in insecurity in Afghanistan.
Asked by Najiba Ayubi, director-general DHSA/TKG what if NATO forces stay on without signing the BSA, and whether it would be good for Afghanistan, the president answered the US had a long-term programme and withdrawal of all their troops was only propaganda.
He urged the media and people to give him more time to bargain with the US until they accept all preconditions for signing the BSA.
Bashiri Bezhan, political analyst, who was also present at the meeting, observed while the president’s media interaction was valuable, people were nervous in case the government was unable to end the stalemate over the BSA. People want to be assured of the future, he considered.