KABUL - President Hamid Karzai announced at a press conference on Monday that he would convene a Loya Jirga, which will decide on the fate of the Kabul-Washington Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA), within one month.

Karzai said that the participants of the Jirga, expected to be largely made up of the top leaders from across the country, would weigh the pros and cons of the agreement that has been negotiated between the U.S. and Afghanistan over the past months and make the final call on it. The President did not provide a specific date for the gathering.

"The Jirga will assess all aspects of the agreement and the representatives of the citizens will make a final decision on the BSA. The citizens are authorized to make a final decision, and the government will only obey their decision," President Karzai said.

On Sunday, Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta, Karzai's National Security Advisor, said that nearly all of the BSA had been agreed upon between Afghan and U.S. negotiators, and that only two provisions remained contested. Reportedly, the items still needing to be ironed are said to be defining what constitutes a "threat" to Afghanistan's national security and the parameters of U.S. unilateral operations.

While reiterating that no decision on the BSA had been made and that the Jirga would be the final authority on the subject, Karzai defended his conditions for the agreement that have supposedly hung up a conclusion to negotiations with the U.S. up to his point.

"The people of Afghanistan want a guarantee of security and peace from the agreement. We are ready to reach an agreement with the U.S., but, the U.S. should realize that Afghans are not willing to sign the agreement at the cost of their security," the President said.

Karzai used the press conference as an opportunity to once urge the US to clarify its stance on meeting certain demands of the Afghan government and a variety of provisions in the agreement.

"If we do not give confidence to the citizens, will they accept the agreement? The Afghans will not accept this, so the U.S. should clarify its stance on the agreement. What would the U.S. do if Afghanistan is invaded by a neighboring country? These aspects should be made clear by Washington," he said.

U.S. officials have pressed the Afghan government to move forward with the agreement as soon as possible. Back in July, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry set a tentative October deadline. However, Afghan officials rejected this timeline outright, saying the signing of the agreement depended on the U.S.' willingness to address their concerns. Since then, officials from both countries have assured that negotiations are in the final stage.

U.S. officials, as well as many Afghan experts, are eager to see the BSA inked as anxieties about Afghanistan's future after the end of the NATO combat mission in 2014 mount. The agreement is expected to designate the number and functions of U.S. troops that will stay in Afghanistan after the bulk of soldiers withdraw.

On Saturday, a number of recently registered candidates for the spring Presidential elections urged President Karzai to sign the agreement. They said that if Karzai failed to finalize the deal, the new government would.

President Karzai came under fire from MPs and Afghan security experts previously when he announced that the ultimate decision on the BSA would be left up the Jirga.

Many expressed apprehension back in July when the possibility of a "zero option" – a scenario in which no U.S. troops would remain in Afghanistan post-2014 – was floated by officials in Washington. Reportedly, if the BSA is not finalized, the U.S. would be forced to withdraw all of its troops and abandon plans to assist in training and advising Afghan forces as was the case in Iraq. (Tolo news)