Karzai Ready to Sign New Pact with Iran - East Idaho News
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Karzai Ready to Sign New Pact with Iran

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GETTY 12913 HamidKarzai?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1386585779548Aref Karimi/AFP/Getty Images(KABUL, Afghanistan) — As Afghan President Hamid Karzai drags his feet on sealing a post-war deal with the U.S., he seems to have no such reluctance in cooperating with Iran.

According to a Karzai spokesman, Kabul and Tehran are preparing a cooperation pact covering “long-term political, security, economic and cultural cooperation, regional peace and security.”

And unlike the Bilateral Security Agreement Karzai is wavering on with the Obama administration, spokesman Aimal Faizi says the Afghan leader is gung-ho on the Iranian offer, especially after meeting with President Hassan Rouhani this weekend.

Karzai did not speak with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who was also in Afghanistan at the same time.

Complicating matters with the U.S. is Rouhani bashing the Bilateral Security Agreement by encouraging Karzai not to sign the deal with Washington that would provide up to 10,000 American troops in Afghanistan after 2014.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

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