The US and Afghanistan reached a deal on Sunday on a long-delayed strategic partnership agreement that ensures Americans will provide military and financial support to the Afghan people for at least a decade beyond 2014, the deadline for most foreign forces to withdraw.
The pact is key to the US exit strategy in Afghanistan because it establishes guidelines for any American forces who remain after the withdrawal deadline and for financial help to the impoverished country and its security forces.
For the Afghan government, it is also a way to show its people that their US allies are not just walking away.
“Our goal is an enduring partnership with Afghanistan that strengthens Afghan sovereignty, stability and prosperity and that contributes to our shared goal of defeating al-Qaida and its extremist affiliates," said US Embassy spokesman Gavin Sundwall. "We believe this agreement supports that goal.”
After 10 years of US-led war, insurgents linked to the Taliban and al-Qaeda remain a threat and as recently as a week ago launched a large-scale attack on the capital Kabul and three other cities.
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