After months of on and off negotiations, the U.S. and Afghanistan have announced a strategic partnership agreement that ensures an American presence in Afghanistan until at least 2024. That’s a full decade after U.S. combat troops are scheduled to withdraw from the country in 2014. But the agreement, whose text was not released, does not include many specifics at all. There’s no specific dollar amounts for U.S. aid listed and the plan doesn’t lay out what role the American security presence will play.Which begs the question: is the agreement more of a symbolic, rather than a substantive victory, for the American-Afghan relationship? And with so little detail, how much weight should be placed on the pact?
We’re joined by Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, Chair of Islamic Studies at American University.
The story you just read is available to read for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, the reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
When you make a gift of $10 or more a month, we’ll invite you to a virtual behind-the-scenes tour of our newsroom to thank you for being with The World.