The deadline imposed by the United States for the Afghan government to sign a security deal is Å“totally made-up,” an analyst tells Press TV.
Å“Clearly theyâ„¢re trying to put pressure on the Afghan government, (but) itâ„¢s important for everyone to realize that this deadline is totally made-up,” Robert Naiman of Just Foreign Policy said on Tuesday.
Å“First, they told the Afghan government and everybody else that they had to sign by December or else the US was going to have to withdraw, then they extended that deadline,” he added.
The analyst said there are some indications that the US would wait until the next summer for the security pact to be signed.
The US Defense Department has urged the Afghan government to sign the Bilateral Security Agreement that would authorize an enduring US military presence in the country beyond December 2014 withdrawal deadline.
However, Naiman said there is no urgency on the part of Washington.
Å“There is no emergency, there is no urgency, there is no crisis. The Pentagon and the Obama administration would like it if the government of Afghanistan would sign the deal now, but that does not constitute an emergency or a crisis.”
The US is in no hurry as the upcoming election in Afghanistan in 2014 and its result might impact on any agreement between Washington and Kabul.
Å“It would make sense to wait for the new government, perhaps different presidential candidates would like talks in really different positions on the agreement,” Naiman said.
Despite pressures from Washington, Kabul has declined to sign the security pact.
Washington has repeatedly said if the deal is not signed, it will have to pull its entire force of some 44,500 troops out of the Asian country by the end 2014, warning that the pullout could further destabilize the country.
According to a new national poll, more than 80 percent of Americans say they are opposed to the war in Afghanistan, making the longest war in US history also the most unpopular one.
The CNN/ORC International survey released Monday indicated that support for the war has dipped to just 17 percent. In December 2008, 52 percent of those surveyed said they supported the war.
AT/HJ
Source: Press TV