Karzai: No security pact with US until oppression cease

As long as arbitrary acts and oppression of foreign forces continue, the security agreement with the United States will not be signed, said Afghan President Hamid Karza here Friday. The President expressed these views after an air-strike by the coalition forces in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province killed an eight-year-old child. The US-led coalition forces targeted a residential house in Faqiran village on Thursday claiming to kill a Taliban commander. The international coalition in a statement said that an investigation into the air-strike had been launched, adding that it regretted any civilian casualties as a result of the strike. President Karzai in a statement said that if such incidents continued, he will not sign the security deal with Washington. The consultative Loya Jirga (tribal elders' grand assembly) that concluded after four days in capital city Kabul approved the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) with the United States with recommendations to sign the document by the end of the year. The President deferred signing the deal until next April's elections as he leaves. The signing of the crucial security pact between the two countries will allow US to keep its troops in Afghanistan after 2014 when NATO/ISAF led forces will leave Afghanistan. Earlier, the United States national security advisor Susan Rice told Afghan President, Hamid Karzai in Kabul that a delay in signing a troubled security deal risked the US pulling troops out of the country completely next year. The spokesman for coalition forces confirmed two drone attacks in a press statement and said that the first, in Garmsir District, targeted an insurgent commander traveling on a motorcycle, but missed him and apparently hit civilians; one child was reported killed and two women were severely wounded