(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) US President Barack Obama warned Afghan President Hamid Karzai that he will withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year, if Karzai continues to delay signing a post-war security deal.
The United States has about 33,600 troops in Afghanista
It is withdrawing the force in line with Obama's vow to largely end a 12-year mission that began after the attacks in the US on September 11, 200
The original plan would see up to 8,000 US troops remain in Afghanistan beyond 2014 for counter-terrorism operation
The Afghan leader has agreed to a deal but he refuses to sign a joint security agreemen
During a phone conversation, Obama told Karzai that plans are being drawn up to withdraw all American troops from Afghanista
However, the US also has the option to keep a small contingent in Afghanistan next year without Karzai's agreemen
Karzai has already ignored the White House's earlier demand that the deal be signed within weeks, not month
Obama told Karzai that he had ordered the Pentagon to plan an orderly exit of all US troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year, the White House sai
The phone call was the first substantial discussion involving the two leaders since Jun
"Specifically, President Obama has asked the Pentagon to ensure that it has adequate plans in place to accomplish an orderly withdrawal by the end of the year should the United States not keep any troops in Afghanistan after 2014," the White House said in a statemen
US defence secretary Chuck Hagel will be taking the modified US position to a meeting of NATO defence ministers this week in Brussel
The White House statement said: "We will leave open the possibility of concluding a BSA (bilateral security agreement) later this yea
However, the longer we go without a BSA, the more challenging it will be to plan and execute any US mission." The longer both countries go without a security deal, "the more likely it will be that any post-2014 US mission will be smaller in scale and ambition", it added
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