PESHAWAR, October 1: Afghan President Mr Ashraf Ghani has signed a security agreement with United States, under which about 9,800 US forces personnel can stay in Afghanistan beyond 2014.
Under the agreement, about 3,000 NATO troops would also be deployed in various cities of Afghanistan.
The former Afghan president, Mr Hamid Karzai, had refused to sign the security agreement, which had led to differences between the two sides in the past. At that time, Mr Karzai said it was the authority of the coming president to decide whether to sign the deal or not.
Previously the US had promised that they would hand all the security arrangements over to the local security agencies and withdraw from Afghanistan by 2014 but now they say that if they withdraw from the Afghan soil, terrorists may again take over the government.
Pakistan has also welcomed the US-Afghan security agreement.
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