(VOVworld) – Afghanistan and the US have signed a long-delayed bilateral security agreement which will allow 10,000 American troops to stay in Afghanistan to train and assist local forces after the international combat mission formally ends at the end of this year. The deal was signed on Tuesday by Afghanistan’s National Security Adviser Hanif Atmar and US Ambassador James Cunningham at the presidential palace in Kabul.
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| Afghan national security adviser Hanif Atmar, right, and US Ambassador James Cunningham hold the bilateral security agreement in Kabul, on Tuesday. (Photo: Reuters) |
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani praised the pact’s importance to consolidating bilateral ties, adding that it will not pose any threat to Afghanistan’s neighbors. He noted that no nuclear or chemical weapons will be used or deployed in Afghanistan as a result of the agreement.
Jen Psaki, a spokesperson for the US State Department, said the agreement will enable Afghanistan, the US, and the international community to maintain their recently established partnership to ensure that Afghanistan can maintain and extend the achievements of the past decade.