According to NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, both the United States and the rest of the alliance will not remain in Afghanistan beyond 2014 unless the Karzai government agrees to a status of forces agreement (SOFA) granting them broad immunity.
Rasmussen says he is optimistic that the Afghan government will meet a tentative deadline of May to grant the immunity, but the SOFA was supposed to come in the wake of last year’s 2024 deal, and has so far stalled.
This is because of the large number of civilian casualties still being caused by NATO forces, and the Karzai government’s hope that it can limit certain types of operations from occupation forces. In the end, it seems unlikely that they will be able to.
If indeed a withdrawal has to be carried out in earnest in 2014, NATO has already sent out feelers to the Russian government seeking advice as well as details of the 1989 Soviet withdrawal.
NATO’s talks with Russia on the matter are said to be “unofficial,” an effort to avoid the obvious comparisons between the calamitous decade-long Soviet occupation and NATO’s own failing war.
Afghanistan would have to be stupid if murderers were give immunity from the law as requested by NATO and The US.
All Human Rights Conventions and Laws of the country of occupation should apply to ALL occupying forces whether they are NATO or AMERICAN.
Where is the Justice in allowing NATO to kill innocents with no accountability?
Not too long till 2014 will have passed. I'm curious to see what happens.
Only 3 months and a half passed from 2014 and this subject hasn't been on the cover for a while now…
Seeking advice? I'm sure that every government that decides to ask for something from Russia is going to ask something more than just advice…
Yeah, it's not like Russia is going to advise them to let it go; of course they're not seeking advice, they want their problems solved
NATO does a pretty good job. I trust them to get all their facts straight and get all the info they can find in previous actions like this.
even though most people don't want to admit it, we will never benefit from this war or any other war the US is going to start
Well we're already a few month into 2014. I'm curious to see what the end of the year will bring.
There's no such thing as immunity and promises when talking with your government…
I'm not sure an agreement with your government means anything, especially at times of war, but this is the best they can do