More
than 2,000 Afghan elders have begun their grand assembly to discuss the
text of a long-awaited bilateral security agreement with the US.
The deal to be debated at the Loya Jirga will determine the presence of US troops in the country after 2014.
One of the key issues has been the circumstances under which US troops could enter Afghan homes.
Another possible stumbling block is whether US troops will be subject to US or Afghan justice.
A draft reportedly says the Afghan government concedes that US troops will be subject to US justice rather than local courts.
Washington has said that all its troops would be withdrawn if no legal immunity is agreed.
Opening
the Loya Jirga, President Hamid Karzai said the only issue on the table
was whether the security agreement would be signed. "It has no other
agenda and I hope that no other agenda will be discussed in it," he
said.
On Wednesday US Secretary of State John Kerry said his team had agreed the text of the agreement with Afghan officials.
"There
were some people who may have questioned or doubted whether that was
going to happen. Well, it's happening tomorrow,'' Mr Kerry told
reporters at the state department.
"We have agreed on the language that would be submitted to the Loya Jirga, but they have to pass it."
He said the role of the US military after 2014 would be "limited".
"It
is entirely train, equip and assist. There is no combat role for United
States forces, and the bilateral security agreement is a way to try to
clarify for Afghans and for United States military forces exactly what
the rules are with respect to that ongoing relationship," he said.
The
Afghan foreign ministry published a draft deal on its website, but it
was not immediately clear if it was same one that Mr Kerry was referring
to.
The
BBC's David Loyn in Kabul says that with many delegates unable to read,
much depends on how President Karzai presents the text to the Loya
Jirga.
The agreement has been the subject of months of tense negotiations and both sides have refused to budge on certain issues.
Security has been stepped up for the Loya Jirga
The
Afghans have long opposed US raids on Afghan homes, particularly night
raids because they are perceived to violate the sanctity of women in the
home.
The
US insistence on immunity from prosecution for troops remaining in
Afghanistan after 2014 has been central to Washington's demands.
The failure to resolve a similar legal issue in Iraq led to a total withdrawal of US forces.
Some
delegates at the Loya Jirga in the capital, Kabul, have expressed
concern at how late the negotiations between the two governments had
been going on.
"Whatever
is happening with the security pact is very confusing for us," Abdul
Hanan, a senator from eastern Paktia province, told Reuters.
Security is tight for the meeting after a suicide bombing last weekend near the huge tent where it is to be held.
President Karzai said he called the Loya Jirga because the security agreement is a matter of national importance.
Even if the assembly approves the bilateral security agreement, it will still have to be passed by the Afghan parliament.
The
Taliban has branded the meeting a US-designed plot, and has vowed to
pursue and punish its delegates as traitors if they approve the deal.
The bulk of the international military force in Afghanistan is due to have left by the end of 2014.
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