US, Afghans confident troop agreement will pass

US and Afghanistan officials say they are confident that tribal elders and the Afghan population will agree to keep US and coalition troops in the country after 2014, even as a senior US military official warned of high profile attacks and assassinations leading up to Afghanistan's presidential elections next year.
The comments come amid persistent uncertainty about the security agreement, including provisions allowing the US military to continue to conduct counterterrorism operations and insuring that US military courts, not the Afghans, would maintain legal jurisdiction over American forces that stay in the country.
A senior US official said that Afghan Defense Minister Bismillah Mohammadi told US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on today that he has strong confidence that the agreement would be endorsed soon and that the vast majority of Afghans support it. The two spoke during a NATO meeting where leaders were getting updates on the war and progress of the Afghan forces.

In a separate discussion, a senior US military official said he is pretty confident that the agreement will be signed, adding that he has spoken to Afghans at every level and none have said the bilateral security agreement was a bad idea.
The military official also said that Afghans recognize that keeping US and coalition troops in the country after 2014 to train and assist the Afghan forces is key to getting the more than USD 4 billion in financial support that allied nations have pledged to provide.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issues publicly.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and President Hamid Karzai reached an agreement about a week ago on the key elements of a deal that would allow American troops to stay after 2014, when combat troops are scheduled to leave. One key unresolved issue, which is a deal breaker for the US, is whether US military courts maintain legal jurisdiction over the troops.

The US official said Hagel made it clear to Mohammadi that jurisdiction is a must for the security agreement.
Karzai said that issue must be discussed by the consultative assembly of tribal elders, or Loya Jirga, before he makes a decision.

The national meeting is expected to start between November 19 and 21 and could last as long as a week, with as many as 3,000 people attending. The Loya Jirga is not binding but Karzai is likely to follow it. The agreement would then have to be ratified by the Afghan Parliament.