Loya Jirga concludes: Afghan elders back 10 years of US presence

KABUL:

Afghan elders, after four days of talks, have endorsed a strategic partnership deal with the US on Saturday which could see American troops remain on Afghan soil for at least 10 more years.

However, they insisted on a string of conditions.

The terms stressed in the declaration at the end of the Loya Jirga (grand council) of tribal leaders included that US nationals committing crimes in Afghanistan must not have immunity and that the US must side with Afghanistan if a third country tries to attack it.

President Hamid Karzai accepted the conditions and recommendations of the jirga, which brought together 2,000 elders from around the country in Kabul, saying they were “for the good of Afghanistan”.

The strategic partnership deal will govern the presence of US troops in Afghanistan after 2014, when all Nato-led foreign combat forces are due to leave.The jirga’s declaration on the deal, which is still being negotiated by Kabul and Washington, is not binding.

However, it is likely to be used by Karzai to claim he has a general mandate from the Afghan people in the ongoing negotiations, which are highly controversial among many in the warring country.

The meeting also backed holding talks with members of the Taliban who renounce violence, despite the assassination in September of peace envoy Burhanuddin Rabbani, which officials blame on insurgents.

“The jirga has decided that the strategic partnership, for better security in the country, is needed,” said the jirga’s final declaration, read out to delegates by spokeswoman Safia Sediqi.

“With regards to the national interest of Afghanistan, the strategic partnership is considered very important.”

Other conditions outlined by the jirga included that the partnership deal be signed for 10 years initially, although that could be extended, and that responsibility for all prisons in Afghanistan be handed to Kabul.

It also stressed that Afghan security forces should take the lead in all military operations, that the US should not play out regional rivalries on Afghan soil, and called for the Afghan parliament to approve the deal.

A number of key figures including Karzai’s main rival Abdullah Abdullah boycotted the jirga amid questions over how delegates were appointed.

Some analysts accused the president of seeking to use the meeting to gain backing for a highly sensitive deal which many Afghans strongly oppose after ten bloody years of war.

“The aim of the jirga appears not to be to deliver fresh policy but to get political cover so the president can cite it as evidence that the people supported a deal with the Americans,” Kate Clark of the Afghanistan Analysts Network wrote this week in a blog posting.

The jirga also called for a “revision” of Afghanistan’s peace strategy after Rabbani’s killing, which has badly stalled efforts to pursue peace.

In addition, the declaration called for the international community to pressure Pakistan – which Afghan officials accuse of harbouring insurgents – and Iran to do more to push hopes for peace forward.

“We want a revision of the peace strategy and a new policy should be outlined,” the jirga’s declaration said.

“The door of peace should be  open to those who wish to abandon violence and return to a peaceful life but we must ensure that the bitter experience of the past is not repeated.”

The jirga was conducted amid tight security with the area surrounding the venue on lockdown and two extra days of national holiday declared in a bid to keep people off the streets amid fears of an insurgent attack.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2011.