Strategic cooperation deal with US finalised: NSC

KABUL): A draft strategic cooperation agreement with the United States has been finalised and would be shortly handed over to the Obama administration, the Afghan government on Sunday said the.

A special commission set up for preparing the pact has been tasked with studying clauses of the pact, which would be sent to the US after approval from the National Security Council (NSC).

A statement from the Presidential Palace said the agreement was thoroughly discussed at weekly meetings of NSC, chaired by President Hamid Karzai.

National Security Advisor Rangin Dadfar Spanta told Parliament last week that the agreement was aimed at bringing political and economic stability to the country and improving the overall security situation.

“Signing a strategic agreement with the US does not need permission from neighbouring countries,” Spanta said. “Afghanistan is an independent country and can sign a strategic agreement with any country it wants to,” he told MPs.

Under the agreement, he said, Afghanistan would be independent in all its activities, including the arrest of suspects and search of civilian houses.

At Sunday’s meeting, NSC officials briefed participants on the security situation and debated the insurgent attack on the Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan Military Hospital.

Six people were killed and more than 20 others wounded when a suicide bomber struck the 400-bed hospital in the heart of Kabul on Saturday. The bomb assault took place at about 12pm when medical students were taking lunch under a tent.

An investigation into the attack was underway and some suspects had been arrested, the statement said.  

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