The Obama administration announced plans to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year, a result of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's refusal to sign an agreement accepting future help from the U.S., The Washington Times reported.
Thousands of troops are supposed to remain in Afghanistan at the end of 2014, staying behind to help with training and security measures. The plan depends on Karzai's signing of a bilateral security agreement to allow the troops to remain.
But President Barack Obama told Karzai on Tuesday that since he has not yet made a decision, the Pentagon is moving forward with a "contingency" plan to remove all troops, The Washington Times reported.
"We have been calling on the Afghan government to complete that, to sign that agreement, which was negotiated in good faith, and to do so promptly," said Jay Carney, press secretary for the White House, according to The Washington Times.
Close to 33,600 troops are currently in Afghanistan. Ending the Afghan war, which began in 2001, has been a staple of Obama's administration. The U.S. hopes the remaining troops will help keep the conflict-torn country stable.
"The president has tasked the Pentagon with preparing for the contingency that there will be no troops in Afghanistan beyond 2014. But we're also remaining open to the possibility of post-2014 troop presence, should the bilateral security agreement be signed later in the year," Carney said, The Washington Times reported.
Karzai is "unlikely" to sign the agreement in the next few weeks, according to the White House. This is because Karzai, who has been in office since December 2001, will no longer be president when his term ends in April, The Washington Times reported.
Yet the Obama administration believes there is a chance the next Afghan president will sign the agreement.
Legislators assert that an agreement must be met by the end of 2014, otherwise U.S. efforts for the past decade will be for nothing.
"It is imperative that we reach a bilateral security agreement with the Afghan government before the end of the year to help ensure that the gains we have made are not jeopardized like they have been in Iraq," House Speaker John A. Boehner, a Republican, said in a statement obtained by The Washington Times.
