"The United States and Afghanistan began talks on Thursday on a security agreement that would authorize an American troop presence in Afghanistan after 2014, when Afghan forces are to assume responsibility for the war.
Gen. Joseph Dunford Jr., the Marine officer who has been nominated by President Obama to assume command of the military mission in Afghanistan next year, told Congress that the goal was to complete the talks by May 2013, well ahead of the deadline for handing responsibility to the Afghans. The timetable, he noted, is longer than the one the Obama administration set during its failed effort to negotiate a similar agreement with Iraq.
“I think one of the critical lessons learned is that we need to allow sufficient time for negotiations to be complete,” the general told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday.
The 2011 talks between the United States and Iraq ultimately failed over the American demand that a Status of Forces Agreement be approved by the Iraqi Parliament, a step the administration said was needed to provide legal immunity for American troops. But the limited time to sort out thorny political and legal issues was a complication: Mr. Obama formally opened the Iraq negotiations in June 2011, less than seven months before the deadline for American troops to leave the country if a new accord was not reached.
The talks between the United States and Afghanistan are being led by James Warlick, the deputy special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Eklil Ahmad Hakimi, Afghanistan’s ambassador in Washington.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/16/world/asia/us-in-talks-with-afghans-on-presence-after-2014.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20121116&_r=0
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