Demonstrators in Afghan oppose security pact with US

More than 100 people staged a peaceful demonstration in Pul-e-Khumri city, the capital of northern Baghlan province 160 km north of Kabul, on Monday and expressed their opposition to inking security pact with the United States. Terming the security pact as against the national interest and chanting anti-U.S. slogans, the demonstrators asked President Hamid Karzai not to sign the controversial pact. The one-hour demonstration which began at 01:30 p.m. local time and ended peacefully at 02:30 p.m. occurred just day after the traditional Loya Jirga or grand assembly of tribal elders and notables approved security pact known as Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) with Washington. The 2,500-member Jirga after four-day debate on Sunday endorsed BSA and called on president Karzai to ink it before the end of 2013, a demand rejected by Karzai, saying the pact might be inked after next Afghan presidential elections slated for April 5, next year. Hundreds of people in a similar demonstration a week ago in the eastern Jalalabad city had also opposed having security pact with America.