US troops may stay in Afghanistan until 2024

US troops may stay in Afghanistan until 2024, according to a report here Saturday. American and Afghanistan are close to rigning a strategic pact which would allow thousands of US troops to remain in the country until at least 2024, the daily Telegraph newspaper disclosed. The agreement would allow not only military trainers to stay to build up the Afghan army and police, but also American special forces soldiers and air power to remain. The prospect of such a deal has already been met with anger among Afghanistan's neighbours including, publicly, Iran and, privately, Pakistan. It also risks being rejected by the Taliban and derailing any attempt to coax them to the negotiating table, according to one senior member of Hamid Karzai's peace council. A withdrawal of American troops has already begun following an agreement to hand over security for the country to Kabul by the end of 2014. But Afghans wary of being abandoned are keen to lock America into a longer partnership after the deadline. Many analysts also believe the American military would like to retain a presence close to Pakistan, Iran and China, the Telegraph added. US officials have said they would be disappointed if a deal could not be reached by December and that the majority of small print had been agreed. In the past, Washington officials have estimated a total of 25,000 troops may be needed. Pakistan and Iran were also deeply opposed to the deal. Andrey Avetisyan, Russian ambassador to Kabul, said: "Afghanistan needs many other things apart from the permanent military presence of some countries. It needs economic help and it needs peace". "Military bases are not a tool for peace. I don't understand why such bases are needed", he said. A complete withdrawal of foreign troops has been a precondition for any Taliban negotiations with Karzai's government and the deal would wreck the currently distant prospect of a negotiated peace, Avetisyan said.