Obama and Karzai sign strategic agreement
May 02.05.2012nd, XNUMX Kabul - During a surprise visit to Afghanistan, US President Barack Obama sealed a strategic agreement on future cooperation between the two countries.
In Kabul's presidential palace, Obama and his counterpart Hamid Karzai signed a treaty on Tuesday regulating the United States' role in the country following the withdrawal of US forces 2014. The costs of the war are for both countries
been high, said Obama. But the agreement should now pave the way for a peaceful future.
Following the signing, Obama made a brief address to the US soldiers at the US base in Bagram near Kabul. "The battle is not over yet," he explained. Difficult times lay ahead. But there is a silver lining. The President wanted to inform the US population about the details of the agreement in a televised address from the base on Tuesday evening.
Obama's visit to Afghanistan had been kept secret in advance for security reasons. He falls on the first anniversary of the killing of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden by a US elite commando in neighboring Pakistan. A senior US government official said Obama wanted to raise Afghanistan to the status of a senior non-NATO partner. In his televised speech, however, the president would make no announcements about a possible earlier withdrawal troops.
(Thomson Reuters)
