Afghanistan has rebuffed a US demand to sign a highly anticipated security pact soon, insisting the document must wait until after next year's Afghan presidential election.
Washington warned Kabul on Thursday to sign the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) pact as soon as possible, with US officials hinting that delaying beyond the end of this year could mean no US troop presence after 2014.
The latest US run-in with Afghan President Hamid Karzai was set off by the leader's statement that the painstakingly negotiated pact would not be signed until after the election in April.
US officials bristled, saying the deal, which governs the conditions of any postwar American counter-terrorism and training mission in Afghanistan, must be signed by the end of the year.
The White House said it needed a swift decision to start planning the footprint of any US forces, and warned that US President Barack Obama had not yet decided on whether to keep US forces in Afghanistan.
Karzai had said the pact could only be signed "when our elections are conducted, correctly and with dignity".
His spokesman Aimal Faizi stood firm on Friday.
"Let's wait and see what will the loya jirga (tribal chieftains) decide on the document. If approved, as the president said, it will be signed after elections," Faizi told AFP.
Senior US officials speaking on condition of anonymity were blunt, warning that if there were no BSA in force, there would be no US troop garrison in Afghanistan after NATO combat troops left in 2014.
Afghanistan goes to the polls on April 5 to elect a successor to Karzai, who must step down after his two terms.
The BSA governs the terms and legal status of US troops who might stay behind in Afghanistan, and the draft emerged after tortuous negotiations.
Obama stepped in this week with a letter to confirm a deal on the vexed question of US forces raiding Afghan homes.
However, American officials quickly knocked down media reports suggesting Karzai would get an apology for the price borne by Afghan civilians during the 12-year war.
The letter, released by Karzai's office, said US forces would not enter Afghan homes for military operations "except under extraordinary circumstances involving urgent risk to life and limb of US nationals".
The sensitive issue had for a time appeared to pose a threat to the deal.
Karzai on Thursday also gave a brutal assessment of his often thorny relationship with Washington, his principal foreign backer.
"America does not trust me and I do not trust them. I have had struggles with them and they have spread propaganda against me," he said.
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