DHAKA: A senior adviser to US President Barack Obama said that Afghanistan will sign a deal on Tuesday to allow American soldiers to remain in the country past the end of the year.

John Podesta, speaking to a news conference at the US embassy in Kabul, said he didn’t know if newly inaugurated President Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai would be the official signing the deal for Afghanistan.

Podesta said he would sign it on behalf of the US, reports the Times of India.

The deal will allow about 10,000 American troops to stay in the country after the international combat mission ends on December 31.

The announcement comes after Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai was sworn in Monday as Afghanistan’s new president, replacing Hamid Karzai in the country’s first democratic transfer of power after the 2001 US-led invasion toppled the Taliban.

Moments after Ghani Ahmadzai took the oath, he swore in his election challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, as chief executive, fulfilling a political pledge he had taken to share power and defuse election tensions that had threatened to spark violence between the country’s north and south.

US officials previously had said they expected Ghani Ahmadzai or an official in his government to sign the security agreement with the US shortly after his inauguration. Both Ghani Ahmadzai and Abdullah said during their campaigns they would sign the deal.

BDST: 1008 HRS, SEP 30, 2014