DHAKA: Up to 15,000 foreign troops could stay in Afghanistan beyond 2014 if a security pact with the US is signed.

Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai said on Thursday, reports The Straits Times.

About 2,500 tribal chiefs, chieftains and dignitaries are gathered in Kabul for a four-day discussion of the bilateral security agreement with the US.

‘If signed... 10,000 to 15,000 of their troops will stay. When I say ‘their troops’, I don’t mean the Americans (alone),’ Karzai told delegates.

He said the force would include troops from other Nato members as well as ‘Turkey or some other Muslim nations’. Turkey is both a Muslim national and a member of Nato.

BDST: 1356 HRS, NOV 20, 2013
RoR/BSK