美國阿富汗簽署雙邊安全協議

Afghanistan's new government and the United States have signed a long-delayed security agreement that will allow about 12,000 foreign soldiers to remain in Afghanistan when the international combat mission ends December 31.

National security adviser Hanif Atmar and U.S. Ambassador James Cunningham signed the deal in a televised ceremony in Kabul , a day after Ashraf Ghani took over as Afghanistan's president.

Cunningham said the pact was the choice of the Afghan people, through their newly elected leadership.

Outgoing President Hamid Karzai was a long-time opponent of the pact, citing in part the civilian death toll during the tenure of international troops in the country since the Taliban was ousted in 2001.

Under Tuesday's agreement, approximately 10,000 U.S. troops and 2,000 NATO forces will stay in Afghanistan after 2014.阿富汗新政府與美國簽署了推遲已久的雙邊安全協議，協議將允許12月31日國際戰鬥任務結束後繼續在阿富汗駐紮大約一萬兩千名外國軍隊。

阿富汗國家安全顧問哈尼夫.阿特馬爾和美國駐阿富汗大使詹姆斯.坎寧安代表兩國在協議上簽字。簽字儀式通過電視轉播。一天前，阿什拉夫.加尼正式宣誓就任阿富汗總統。

坎寧安說，這項協議是阿富汗人民通過新當選領導人所作出的選擇。

阿富汗前總統卡爾扎伊一直反對簽署安全協議，理由之一是外國軍隊2001年推翻塔利班之後進駐阿富汗造成平民死亡。

根據星期二簽署的協議， 大約1萬名美軍和兩千名北約軍隊2014年之後將留在阿富汗。