US Secretary of State John Kerry said he had nailed down the terms of a key security pact to govern the presence of US troops in Afghanistan beyond 2014. The hard-won agreement was announced just hours before Afghan leaders were to debate the deal.
Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai appears to have accepted US demand that American troops will not be tried in local courts if they are accused of any crimes, a key sticking point. “As we sit here tonight we have agreed on the language that would be submitted to a loya jirga, but they have to pass it,” Kerry told reporters in Washington.
