Kabul won't be bullied on security pact: Karzai

Washington pins hope on India to sway Afghan leader to sign deal

Afghanistan will not be bullied into signing a security pact allowing US troops to stay on after next year, President Hamid Karzai said as he pressed India on Friday for more military hardware.

Karzai met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid at the start of a three-day visit, with the United States hoping New Delhi can persuade him to sign the troubled pact.

India-educated Karzai has close ties with the nation, which is keen to ensure that the exit of some 75,000 US-led NATO troops at the end of 2014 does not trigger a return to power of the hardline Taliban militia.

But speaking to Indian television, Karzai said he would not be "intimidated" into signing the pact which would allow 12,000 US troops to stay in Afghanistan after 2014 and sets out their terms of engagement.

"Aggressive rhetoric won't work. ... We are not a nation that is known for giving into intimidation," he told New Delhi Television.

"If they have not recognized this, they should. It will be good for them to recognize. ... We will sign it when we feel sure that our signature will bring peace and security."

Karzai, who is due to stand down after elections next year, initially endorsed the Bilateral Security Agreement. But he later said the agreement could only be signed after the presidential election in April, warning against a NATO presence if it just meant "more bombs and killings".

His stance has outraged US officials and lawmakers, who have threatened a complete pullout if Karzai does not sign by the end of the year.

James Dobbins, the US special representative on Afghanistan and Pakistan, told a Senate Committee this week he hoped India could help persuade Karzai to ink the agreement.

India has poured $2 billion in reconstruction aid into Afghanistan, and Karzai's ambassador to Kabul said ahead of the visit that requests for more military assistance would be high on the agenda.

An Indian government official, who did not want to be named, told AFP that Khurshid and Karzai had "wide-ranging" and "candid" talks. A source also confirmed that Karzai met Singh but there was no immediate word on the outcome.

On his last visit to New Delhi in May, Karzai said he had put forward a "wish list" of military assistance he hoped Delhi could deliver.

India's foreign ministry declined to detail what the list contained, but local media reports said it included light and heavy artillery, aircraft, and small arms and ammunition.

"We leave it to India," Karzai said when asked by NDTV about his requests.

India has consistently pledged to do all it can to promote stability in Afghanistan, mindful of how it was one of the main enemies of the Taliban regime before its ouster in the wake of the Sept 11 attacks in 2001.

While some observers have urged India not to become sucked into Afghan power battles, an Indian Express editorial said the government was right to bolster military support for Karzai to counter its historical rival Pakistan, which was once the Taliban's chief patron.

"While it must carefully weigh the regional consequences of supplying weaponry to Kabul, Delhi can't ignore the dangers that will flow from the Pakistan army's likely advances in Afghanistan after 2014," the newspaper said on Friday.

M.K. Bhadrakumar, a former Indian ambassador to Kabul, said Karzai could not expect all of his wishes to be answered.

"It is not as if Karzai comes with a wish list and hands it over to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and they take a red pen and green pen and keep ticking off items. It is not like this," Bhadrakumar said.

"Already there is a high degree of cooperation in the field of security and defense. Hundreds of Afghan officers are being trained in India and from (the) Afghan side. That is of much greater use than military hardware."

Bhadrakumar said India was bound by end-use agreements with its mainly European arms suppliers, which often prevent it from arming other regimes.

(China Daily 12/14/2013 page6)