New Afghanistan Deal: Obama to Apologize; US Troops There Indefinitely

Tuesday, 19 Nov 2013 01:48 PM

By Joseph Schwerdt and Newsmax Wires

• 
• Tweet
• 
• 

President Barack Obama will apologize to the Afghan people under a security agreement that will keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan well beyond 2014 at a cost of billions to American taxpayers.

NBC News has obtained a draft of the security pact that shows the United States would pay to maintain multiple military outposts in Afghanistan indefinitely and pay to support hundreds of thousands of Afghan security forces.

Also, Reuters is reporting that Obama has agreed to write a letter of apology to the Afghan people acknowledging mistakes made during the "war on terror" and the suffering of the Afghan people.

The letter is to be presented along with the draft at the meeting of tribal elders that is due to start on Thursday and run for several days.

Under the pact, U.S. troops will have sole control over Bagram Air Field north of Kabul, but will share facilities on eight Afghan-run bases throughout the country, Afghan lawmaker Khaled Pashtun told The Associated Press.

National Security adviser Rangin Dadfar Spanta told lawmakers at a weekend briefing that 10,000 to 16,000 residual U.S. and NATO service personnel would stay behind in Afghanistan after 2014, lawmaker Shah Gul Rezayee told the AP. They would mentor and train the Afghan security forces, she said.

Read more......

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/afghanistan-obama-apology-troops/2013/11/19/id/537487?ns_mail_uid=64709049&ns_mail_job=1546768_11192013&promo_code=15A9E-1