After months of negotiations, the US and Afghanistan have finalised drafts of the strategic partnership agreement that pledges US support to Afghanistan for 10 years after the withdrawal of US troops at the end of 2014. The drafts will be sent to President Hamid Karzai and the Afghan parliament for review and approval before the agreement is signed by the Presidents of the two countries. The drafts cover the broad spectrum of the existing comprehensive partnership with a view to sustaining it for at least another decade after 2014. They do not specify the amounts of support to be given or the nature of programmes to be undertaken but officials from both countries have said that the agreement will send a signal to insurgents that the US is not going to abandon Afghanistan as it did in the 1990’s after the Soviets were driven out.
After nine months of negotiations, an MOU was signed in March on the transfer of detention operations to the Afghan government. In April a companion memorandum was signed handing over final authority on night raids to Afghan security forces which are doing the job on their own unless US assistance is asked for. The need for the strategic partnership was acutely felt after the latest Taliban outrage on foreign embassies in Kabul. Although the US presence in Afghanistan is moving towards zero, US assistance will continue to be on tap to combat the extremist Taliban. The Karzai government and Afghan security forces will take long to be in a position to cope with the threat. The US government for its part will be spared criticism at home for having troops based in the rough terrain for long years. Furthermore, Afghan society will be relieved to some extent as the Taliban will not be able to impose its Islamic orthodoxy on local people, especially women for the present.