KABUL (Reuters) – Afghanistan will on Tuesday sign a crucial security agreement allowing the United States to leave a small contingent of troops in the country beyond this year, U.S. officials said.
U.S. Ambassador James Cunningham said on Monday that Afghanistan’s new President Ashraf Ghani would send a representative to sign the agreement the next morning at the presidential palace in the capital, Kabul.
Cunningham said he would sign on behalf of the United States and protocol allows Ghani to sign the document only with another head of state.
(The story corrects to show Ghani representative, not Ghani, will sign agreement.)
(Reporting by Kay Johnson; Writing by Maria Golovnina; Editing by Robert Birsel, Larry King)