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Kabul (AFP) April 11, 2011 The Afghan government hopes to hold a traditional gathering of elders from around the country to make a decision on its long-term ties with the United States, President Hamid Karzai said Monday. Karzai said Afghanistan's national security council had agreed on a vision for a strategic partnership to combat terrorism after the scheduled withdrawal of foreign combat troops in 2014. This will be presented to the United States, Karzai added, while stressing that a loya jirga or grand assembly of Afghan elders would make the final decision on the matter. "We wish to hold a loya jirga in the coming two to three months," Karzai told a press conference in Kabul. He added that conditions to be discussed between the two countries included "the amount of money we shall get, the form of their assistance, the conditions for their operation here, legalising the presence of foreigners (foreign forces) and regional issues". During a visit to Kabul last month, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates called for a "long-term security partnership with the Afghan people" in the years ahead, stressing the specifics of any deal are still to be hammered out. He said the United States had "no interest" in having permanent bases in Afghanistan although it was "open" to the idea of retaining a "training and assistance" role in the country using Afghan government facilities. There are currently around 130,000 US-led international troops in Afghanistan working with pro-government forces to combat the Taliban, but foreign forces are due to stop their combat operations in 2014. Poverty-stricken Afghanistan has been hit hard by three decades of war. A 2001 US-led invasion ousted the militant Islamist Taliban regime.
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