WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 (UPI) -- Hamid Karzai's failure to sign a security pact has caused the United States to develop contingency plans, President Obama told the Afghan president Tuesday.
Speaking to Karzai by telephone, Obama said alternate plans to pull all U.S. forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2014 were being made because Karzai had "demonstrated that is it unlikely that he sign the [Bilateral Security Agreement]."
A White House statement said Obama believed a "limited post-2014 mission" was possible if the agreement was signed after Karzai left office following April elections and "a willing and committed partner" could be found in a new government.
That mission would be designed to train, advise and assist Afghan forces and to track down al-Qaida militants.
"Therefore, we will leave open the possibility of concluding a BSA with Afghanistan later this year," the statement said.
The White House cautioned that the longer the agreement was not signed, the greater the likelihood the U.S. mission would be "smaller in scale and ambition."
