Jan 16, 2013
By Mallory Sutika Sipus, Senior Research Analyst

On 2 May 2012, US President Barak Obama and President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan signed a Joint Partnership Agreement (JPA) that reiterated the two countries’ shared commitment to Afghanistan’s future and a continued diplomatic partnership between nations. More importantly, the partnership agreement called for the United States and Afghanistan to commence negotiations on a Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) that would detail the specifics, attributes and goals for a U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan beyond the 2014 security transition deadline.  According to the JPA, the BSA negotiation process should take no more than one year from its initial commencement, which began in mid-November 2012. Already, however, the BSA negotiations have been fraught with challenges and it is clear that significant obstacles stand in the way of a signed document.

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