Afghanistan: Karzai's Jirga to be Held Within Two Months

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In an interview with Associated Press, Emal Faizi, spokesman of President Karzai, said that the proposed Loya Jirga would be convened within the next two months. According to the President's office, the Jirga aims to collect input from the public on the Afghan-U.S. Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) prior to any final decision on the agreement being made. A number of political parties have strongly criticized Karzai's Jirga, labeling it unconstitutional. Their claim is that the Afghan government has already agreed to the security agreement with the U.S. and now, by organizing a Jirga, President Karzai is only trying to delay the final signing of it in order to negotiate benefits for himself. "The Jirga is illegal. By holding the Jirga, President Karzai is striving to legitimize his own agenda. At the Jirga they will try to make personal gains as the Jirga is going to be conducted by those who are supporting and working for personal benefits," said Syed Fazel Aqa Sancharaki, spokesman of the National Coalition of Afghanistan. Members of the National Front Party (NFP) were of the opinion that the Jirga would be used by President Karzai as a means to influence campaigns in the upcoming elections. "People already agreed on the security agreement at the previous Jirga, there is no need for another one," said Sardar Muhammad Rahimi, spokesman of the NFP. "It seems that the government aims to meet other objectives. Soon the Presidential candidates will be announced and by holding the Jirga the government wants to promote a particular nominee for the elections," he said. According to President Karzai's office, the Loya Jirga is simply intended to provide feedback for a final decision to be made on the security agreement, an accord meant to provide the roadmap for U.S. security assistance in Afghanistan after the bulk of troops are withdrawn when the official NATO combat mission ends in 2014. U.S. officials gave the Afghan government until October to sign the BSA, which is one slice of the broader Strategic Cooperation Partnership Agreement (SCPA) signed by President Karzai and President Obama in May, 2012. According to the 3rd Chapter, Section B and Article 2 of the BSA, both countries pledged to sign-off on the finalized details of the agreement within a year of the SCPA's ratification. The 3rd Chapter of the BSA states: "Both sides will hold negotiations over the security agreement. The negotiations on the security agreement must be completed within a period of one year immediately after the Strategic Cooperation Partnership Agreement is signed. The security agreement will provide clarity on the presence of US military and civilian employees in Afghanistan to support the country in combating insurgency, providing assistance, military training of the Afghan Security Forces and other activities which both countries had agreed upon in 2003." However, as this one-year deadline has already come and gone, the October timetable submitted by the U.S. and the two-month Jirga window proposed by President Karzai's office provide the only indicators of when a final signing might be expected. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) announced on Tuesday that the BSA talks had entered a new stage, lending hope to the potentiality of a ratification before October. MoFA officials said that Dr. Rangeen Dadfar Spanta, the National Security Advisor; Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, the head of the Security Transition Commission (STC); and Dr. Zalmai Rasoul, the Foreign Minister, had been assigned the task of accelerating the process. But with simultaneous news of President Karzai's intent to go ahead with the Jirga, the exact decision making method of the Afghan government when it comes to its expectations and conditions for an acceptable BSA is increasingly unclear. If negotiations are in fact entering a final phase, as the MoFA implied this week, it seems somewhat of a mystery as to just how influential public feedback from the Jirga would be as the U.S.' October deadline draws near. The Afghan government has already announced a number of broad preconditions for finalizing the BSA, including the U.S. assisting in the restoration of peace and security, supporting Afghanistan against external threats and equipping the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). The issue of "diplomatic immunity" for U.S. forces in Afghanistan post-2014, which would free them from the potential of prosecution in Afghan courts, has remained as one of the sticking points in negotiations between Kabul in Washington that have prolonged the process. The Afghan government initially postponed talks on the security agreement back in June after tensions between the two countries flared during the "Islamic Emirates" controversy surrounding the opening of the Taliban's political office in Qatar. If the agreement is not signed, it is unlikely that any U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan following the official end of the NATO mission in 2014. "There is a lot of hope that the BSA would be finalized soon." Said Dr. Dawood Muradyan, an international affairs analyst. "The enemies of Afghanistan are closely monitoring the situation and they are waiting to see what is going to happen. The signing of the BSA will remove all misconceptions and send a clear message to neighboring countries that Afghanistan and the U.S. are enjoying longstanding relations."