Afghan Elders Council Should Make Decision On US Military Bases Maintenance - Karzai

Afghan Elders Council Should Make Decision on US Military Bases Maintenance - Karzai

It is the intra-Afghan loya jirga grand assembly of country's elders that should make decision on US military bases maintenance in the country, and all the necessary conditions to convene the loya jirga have been created, former Afghan President Hamid Karzai told Sputnik in an interview

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th February, 2019) It is the intra-Afghan loya jirga grand assembly of country's elders that should make decision on US military bases maintenance in the country, and all the necessary conditions to convene the loya jirga have been created, former Afghan President Hamid Karzai told Sputnik in an interview.

"Only we are responsible for protecting our borders and ourselves. No foreigner can do this. We have already understood that this is not possible. Americans should leave the issue of US military bases maintenance in Afghanistan to Afghans. The people of Afghanistan should make this decision at the loya jirga," Karzai said.

When asked if the intra-Afghan dialogue conference, which was recently held in Moscow, had helped to establish conditions for the loya jirga convention, Karzai stressed that all the conditions to convene the loya jirga, which traditionally makes decisions on extraordinary situations, were in place.

"Given the situation that Afghanistan is currently in, convening the loya jirga would be the best way to resolve all the problems." he added.

The former president went on to say that the date of the loya jirga had not been identified yet, and that preparations were yet to be carried out.

Karzai specified that the decisions made at the loya jirga would be declared official and would be recognized by all Afghans.

In Late January, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani vowed to try to remove all foreign troops from the country. In addition, an agreement on the possible withdrawal of the US forces from Afghanistan was reportedly reached during recent talks between the United States and Taliban in Qatar. However, a US State Department spokesperson told Sputnik, on Wednesday, that the Washington and Kabul had not agreed to "any timeline for a possible drawdown of troops."