Afghan president Karzai unlikely to sign US troop pact, says intelligence chief

Hamid Karzai at the Winter Olympics opening ceremony. Photograph: Getty Images

The US is likely to fail in its efforts to persuade Afghan president Hamid Karzai to agree to a long-term American troop presence in his country, according to director of national intelligence James Clapper.

In the most senior warning yet of Washington’s growing rift with Kabul, Clapper told the Senate armed services committee that he did not believe that Karzai would sign the proposed bilateral security agreement.

The White House insists that the BSA is necessary for it to retain any security presence in Afghanistan after the bulk of American troops withdraw later this year, but has continued to say it is hopeful that Karzai would eventually sign.

“My own view – and it’s not the company view – is that I don’t think Karzai is going to sign it,” Clapper told the committee on Wednesday.

Obama’s intelligence chief also said a formal US decision to wait for Karzai’s successor to sign the agreement instead could “have a salutary” effect on Kabul.

The stalemate over the BSA, which was provisionally approved by a loya jirga of tribal leaders last year, has already lowered economic growth and driven away foreign investors according to Clapper.

“The effect already of the delay has been negative in terms of impact on the economy,” he said.