Kabul: The U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan said on Thursday that Afghan President Hamid Karzai still refuses to sign a security deal with the United States until after next April's elections.
James Dobbins, who is on a regular visit to Kabul, told The Associated Press he met with Karzai on Thursday and mostly discussed reconciliation efforts with the Taliban—which the American diplomat says remain stuck because the insurgents don't want to talk.
“On the security agreement we really did not make any progress. It was a restatement of the known positions. I explained why we thought it was important to remove the anxiety and uncertainty around this as quickly as possible,” Dobbins said.
Karzai tentatively has endorsed the deal, but refuses to sign it after it was approved by a council of tribal elders known as the Loya Jirga.
The council said the agreement with the U.S. should be signed by the end of December, as Washington demands.
