KABUL - Officials of the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) on Sunday said that the fourth phase of talks about the Afghan-US Security Agreement will begin within few days in Kabul.

Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, the Foreign Ministry Spokesman Janan Mosazai said that the Agreement will be finalized after the fourth phase of talks ends.

He also mentioned that a Jirga (traditional gathering) will be organized for the people of Afghanistan to discuss the agreement.

"Within few days, the fourth round of talks about the Afghan-US Security Agreement will take place in Kabul. It seems that this time the agreement will be finalized and we will discuss it with the people of Afghanistan at a Jirga," Janan Mosazai said.

Both the countries had put front several conditions to sign the Agreement which has caused a delay in finalising it.

President Karzai has always said that he will sign the agreement only when the war and violence ends in Afghanistan.

The US hopes that the Afghan government will finalise the security agreement before Karzai's term as the President ends.

Through this Agreement the US has demanded that it will set up permanent bases in Afghanistan.

It is said that the fourth phase of talks on the Agreement will be different from the previous ones that were held between the two countries.

The development comes in at a time when the former US Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad spoke to TOLOnews in Kabul about the Afghan-US relationship. He indicated that the Security Agreement should be signed as soon as possible as it would boost confidence in the country ahead of the elections.

Khalilzad said the Afghan government should not think that the US would agree to all their conditions, warning that Washington can afford to abandon Afghanistan.

Afghanistan will be holding a crucial Presidential election in April 2014 and debates over this political transition is rapidly taking shape.

The foreign troops are due to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014 and hand-over full security responsibilities to the Afghan forces.

There are around 66,000 US troops in Afghanistan helping over 300,000 Afghan security forces fight insurgency. (Tolo News)