KABUL - Some Wolesi Jirga members on Monday asked the government to revoke the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) with the United States because the deal had resulted in increased insecurity instead of peace and stability.
The BSA was inked between Afghanistan and the US back in 2014. President Ashraf Ghani had said the agreement would bring stability and welfare to the country and would secure Afghanistan and the world at large from threats posed by terrorist networks.
Under the agreement, the US will support Afghanistan if the country faces any serious external threat to its territory.
But lower house members said at today’s session that the BSA had resulted in Afghanistan’s enmity with neighboring countries and had increased insecurity and the internal conflict.
Muhiuddin Mehdi, a lawmaker from northern Baghlan province, said: “The BSA is supposed to ensure security and order in Afghanistan, but instead incidents of insecurity and casualties to security forces mounted.”
He said the BSA had resulted in Afghanistan’s enmity with its neighboring countries and had increased in insecurity and had surged the internal conflict.
He called for the agreement to be reviewed and said the people of Afghanistan lost their authority and say after inking the agreement.
Allah Gul Mujahid, a lawmaker from Kabul, said: “If you want the killing of the people of Afghanistan to be stopped then revoke the BSA.”
Shekaiba Hashami, a lawmaker from Kandahar province, said the US did not honor the BSA and did not support Afghan forces on the battleground.
A number of other lawmakers also demanded the government to reconsider the agreement on the account of growing insecurity and instability in the country.
Speaker Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi said a review of the BSA was the authority of lawmakers and asked the public representatives to proceed with a written request regarding a review of the agreement.
He said the inclusion of the BSA in future agenda of the house required a legal document and if it existed, then it should be handed over to the administrative panel of the house. (Pajhwok)