Afghan Accord Near Collapse

Washington Post: “Efforts by the United States and Afghanistan to finalize a long-term security arrangement appeared on the brink of collapse Monday as Afghan President Hamid Karzai made a new set of demands, and the Obama administration said it would be forced to begin planning for a complete withdrawal of all U.S. forces at the end of 2014.”

The New York Times reports Karzai was said to have assured National Security Adviser Susan Rice “he would sign the deal at some
point, he gave no time frame for it. And over dinner at the presidential
palace in Kabul, he later insisted on difficult new conditions as well,
including the release of all inmates at the American prison camp at
Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, adding to the perception of crisis between the two
nations.”