KABUL — In a rebuke to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, a grand council of Afghan dignitaries voted Sunday to approve a proposed 10-year security agreement with the United States by the end of the year, agreeing to an American-imposed deadline.
The chairman of the council told Karzai that he miscalculated when the Afghan president demanded a delay in signing the agreement until next spring. Chairman Sibghatullah Mojaddedi lectured Karzai, warning that if he delays signing the agreement, “I’ll resign and leave the country.
“If he had listened to my advice, we wouldn’t have this problem today,” said Mojaddedi, 89, a former Afghan president and mentor to Karzai, as the president sat stiffly a few paces away.
Karzai remained adamant that he will not sign the agreement until after the Afghan presidential election in April. That stance has infuriated U.S. officials, who on Friday imposed a Dec. 31 deadline.
Karzai asked the council for more time to negotiate with the U.S. “We’ll try to bargain more with the Americans on your behalf” and then sign the agreement much later, he said.
Karzai did not indicate whether he will brush aside the council’s recommendation and defy the U.S. deadline. The Afghan president is notorious for delaying tactics that seek to extract concessions.
