The top US negotiator in talks to secure a long-term security deal with Afghanistan has warned that President Hamid Karzai is unlikely to sign the agreement on time, the Washington Post reports.
The assessment was made in recent days by US Ambassador James Cunningham in a classified cable, after US President Barack Obama's administration repeatedly extended the deadline for the agreement, originally due to be signed in September.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said this week the deal must be signed within "weeks and not months."
"The clock is ticking," he said.
But Cunningham said he did not expect Karzai to agree to sign the document before presidential elections set to be held in April.
US-Afghan ties hit a low in recent months after Karzai made a surprise decision not to sign the bilateral security agreement promptly, despite having vowed to do so.
The agreement would keep several thousand US troops in Afghanistan to provide training and assistance after the NATO combat mission ends in December.
The signing of the BSA is a precondition for the delivery of billions of dollars in Western aid for Afghanistan.
"We continue to urge President Karzai to sign the BSA promptly," a senior US official said when asked about Cunningham's cable.
Obama's deputies have warned that unless Karzai relents on the security deal soon, there will be no option but to prepare for a full US troop exit - the so-called "zero option".
"If we cannot conclude a bilateral security agreement promptly, then we will be forced to initiate planning for a post-2014 future in which there would be no US, nor NATO, troop presence in Afghanistan," Carney warned.
"That's not the future we're seeking.
"But the further this slips into 2014, the more likely that outcome will come to pass."
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