The scheduled meeting between US President Barack Obama and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai next month is expected to lay the rules for the presence of US troops in the war-torn country after the 2014 security transition to Afghan forces, a presidential spokesman has said.
Karzai is scheduled to travel to Washington for a meeting with Obama at the White House in the week of January 7, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters at his daily news conference.
“The (US) President and President Karzai look forward to discussing a shared vision of Afghanistan beyond 2014, to include the post-2014 role of the United States in Afghanistan,” he said.
“Their meeting will be an important opportunity to discuss the implementation of the strategic partnership the two presidents signed in May, to include the progress we’re making in negotiating the bilateral security agreement that would replace our current SOFA and lay out the rules of the road for a potential US military presence after 2014,” Carney said.
Obama also looks forward to discussing an Afghan-led peace process as well as the region and the future of Afghanistan’s security forces, the White House spokesman said.
The United States, he said, supports an Afghan-led process of reconciliation. “We believe that’s essential for the long-term prospects of peace in Afghanistan,” Carney said.