US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has told American troops he backs a NATO force playing a role in Afghanistan after 2014, as Washington and President Hamid Karzai wrangle over a stalled security pact.
Hagel travelled to the southern province of Helmand on Sunday to meet troops a day after further tensions over the security pact that would allow NATO forces to stay in the country after next year.
"I believe there is a role for our coalition partners and the United States, but that depends on the Afghan people," Hagel told US soldiers in a question-and-answer session.
"If the people of Afghanistan want to continue that relationship, then we will."
US commanders were looking at "a new phase for our mission to train, assist, advise and counter-terrorism," he said.
Meetings with Karzai have been customary over the years for Pentagon chiefs, but Hagel said on Saturday after his arrival he had no plans to meet the Afghan president during his weekend visit.
As President Barack Obama's top national security adviser, Susan Rice, and top diplomat, John Kerry, had already had frank discussions with Karzai urging him to sign the security agreement, Hagel said there was no point in him repeating the US position.
Hagel did meet the Afghan defence minister, who assured him the security agreement would be signed in "a timely manner".
Karzai, who visited Iran on Sunday, initially endorsed the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA), but has since refused to sign and issued fresh demands.
The agreement sets the legal conditions to permit US and other forces to operate in the country beyond 2014.
But without a signed deal, countries ready to send troops to a post-2014 training mission cannot make budget plans or secure political approval, Hagel said.
Karzai has said the signature could take place after elections in April, but Hagel said that would push the timeline into mid-2014 as the polls are expected to result in a run-off vote.
There are currently 46,000 American troops and 27,000 soldiers from other coalition countries in Afghanistan, and almost the entire NATO-led force is scheduled to pull out by the end of next year.
Under a proposed post-2014 mission, roughly 12,000 troops - mostly American - would remain in the country to train Afghans and counter Al-Qaeda-linked militants.
