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US wants news blackout on Afghan deal

Other News Materials 18 November 2011 02:54 (UTC +04:00)
A senior Afghan official says that Washington wants a complete media blackout over the conditions set in its strategic long-term deal with Kabul, Press TV reported.
US wants news blackout on Afghan deal

A senior Afghan official says that Washington wants a complete media blackout over the conditions set in its strategic long-term deal with Kabul, Press TV reported.

Speaking at a press conference in the capital Kabul on Thursday, loya jirga spokeswoman Safia Sediqi said the common complaint among participants of the traditional gathering on the second day of the event was that they were not been provided with any information about the terms and conditions the United States has set out for its long-term deal with Afghanistan, state-funded BBC Persian news network reported.

The loya jirga, called by President Hamid Karzai, kicked off in the Afghan capital Kabul on Wednesday. The four-day meeting discusses Afghanistan's relationship with the United States, and is mainly centered on long-term US bases in Afghanistan after US-led foreign troops withdraw in 2014.

Afghan religious and political figures have voiced strong opposition to US plans to set up long-term or permanent military bases in the war-torn country.

The United States has failed to achieve its goals after 10 years of war in Afghanistan. Many parts of the Asian country still remain insecure despite the presence of nearly 150,000 US-led foreign forces there.

Experts believe Washington's new strategy of establishing long-term military bases will only serve to raise anti-US sentiment among Afghans and neighboring countries.

Afghan people are against the plan, dismissing it as a ploy for indefinite neo-colonial occupation.

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