The U.S. State Department on Monday once again pushed for President Hamid Karzai to sign the Kabul-Washingtong Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) as soon as possible.
Last month, Karzai ignored a recommendation form the Loya Jirga to finalize the pact with the U.S., which would ensure U.S. troops stay in Afghanistan post-2014, and instead way to sign it until after the April elections, and even then, only if the U.S. meets certain preconditions.
U.S. officials have said the agreement must be signed before the end of the year, and have warned that no U.S. troops would remain in Afghanistan and all military aid to the Afghan forces would be cut off next year if the BSA is not in place.
Karzai has chest-thumped this week while on a trip to India, telling the press that he will not be intimidated by the U.S. into sealing the deal and that he does not trust Washington.
Many Afghan experts and officials have come out in recent weeks to criticize Karzai and his approach to the BSA.
State Department Deputy Spokesman Marie Harf said on Tuesday that discussions would continue with President Karzai on signing the troops deal.
"We've said that this needs to be signed as soon as possible," Harf said. "Our position on that has not changed, and we'll continue the discussions with President Karzai and the Afghans about how to get this done as soon as possible."
Officials in Washington have said they need the agreement signed before the end of the year so they and their NATO counterparts can iron-out plans for the some 10,000 troops expected to stay in Afghanistan post-2014.
The Foreign Ministry of Russia on Tuesday also urged Afghanistan Government to decide on signing the deal, but emphasized that it must do so independently.
"On the sideline of the Shanghai Cooperation Summit (SCO) in Bishkek this year, Russia and Afghanistan's Presidents negotiated and the Russian President announced that the Afghan Government has the right to solve the issues of the security agreement for itself and independently," a statement released by the Russian Ministry read.
"It is worth mentioning that Kabul should clarify the outcomes of such a decision and not make any decision against the interests of a third country," the statement added.
Afghanistan's neighbors, Iran and Pakistan, have expressed reservations about the BSA, and the prospect of U.S. troops remaining in the area beyond 2014. Tehran has explicitly denounced the deal, and urged Kabul not to sign it.
But in Afghanistan, support for the BSA is overwhelming. On Tuesday, Jabha yi Nejat-e-Mili Afghanistan led by Sebghatullah Mujadadi, the Chairman of last month's Loya Jirga, called on President Karzai to forgo his personal demands and sign the agreement as soon as possible.
The party released a resolution and stated that Afghan National Assembly, Judiciary and other government offices should make a decision on the agreement if President Karzai refuses to sign it.
"We should have a regular policy and it is not appropriate for President to do this," Secretary General of Nejat-e-Mili Zabiullah Mujadadi told TOLOnews. "The agreement should sign and must not be delayed."
There have, however, been those inside Afghanistan who have backed Karzai's decision, many of who are former and current militant supporters.
"Karzai has taken such a stance because he brought foreigners to the country and unrest and disorders followed during his reign," former Jaish-ul-Muslimeen commander Sayed Akbar Agha said. "So he wants to cover up his behaviors and compensate for them."
With just over two weeks of the year left, it is unlikely that the deal will be signed by December 31, as Washington wants.
"I don't want to put hard and fast deadlines on things," Harf said.