Afghan Assembly To Discuss Security Deal With U.S. Next Month

Afghan President Hamid Karzai (right) shakes hands with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry after a news conference in Kabul on October 12.

KABUL -- Afghan officials say a national assembly to discuss a key security agreement between Kabul and Washington will be held in November.

Organizers said on October 19 that some 3,000 tribal elders and other influential people will take part in the Loya Jirga.

Following talks in Kabul earlier this month, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said a partial deal had been reached, but that differences remained.

Kerry said the two sides were still divided over whether U.S. soldiers remaining in Afghanistan after foreign troops leave in 2014 will have immunity, as Washington wants, but which Kabul has opposed.

Karzai said the question of "jurisdiction" was beyond the scope of the government, and would be put to the country’s Loya Jirga as well as parliament.


With reporting by AP, AFP, and dpa