US wants Afghan pact signed before Afghan election

It's unclear why Karzai said he would rather his successor to sign any deal, which has been the focus of nearly a year of negotiations fraught with frequent ups and downs and pauses. James Dobbins, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said U.S. officials are trying to get Karzai to change his mind.


“I think delaying the signing to April will make it much more difficult for us to make our commitments,” Dobbins told “PBS NewsHour.”

“It'll make it more difficult—and make it virtually impossible for other countries to make their commitments. I think it'll have a long-term, deleterious impact on the scale of international assistance to Afghanistan,” he said.

Asked if the U.S. was trying to get Karzai to reconsider, Dobbins replied: “Absolutely. And besides that, it's a two-round election and it's not necessarily over in April. It could well extend several months beyond that because if the first round doesn't produce a clear winner, there'll be a second round.”