Afghan President Hamid Karzai says his country wants its sovereignty and an end to night raids as conditions for a strategic partnership with the United States under which some U.S. troops would remain in Afghanistan.
Mr. Karzai said Wednesday he does not want parallel institutions set up alongside his government.
He spoke at the opening of the four-day loya jirga, or grand council, where more than 2,000 Afghan politicians, tribal elders and community leaders are meeting to discuss relations with the U.S. and possible peace talks with the Taliban.
The meeting in the capital, Kabul, is being held amid tight security, after the Taliban threatened to disrupt the talks.
Mr. Karzai said Afghanistan is open to allowing the United States to have military bases in the country after 2014, saying that would bring money and training for Afghan forces.
He also said the government is negotiating strategic partnerships with Britain, France, Australia and the European Union.
There are more than 130,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan as part of a NATO-led coalition, mostly from the United States. All international combat troops are due to leave the country by the end of 2014.
The U.S. State Department has expressed confidence the assembly will reaffirm the “strong partnership” between the two countries.
But as Afghan leaders plan to discuss how best to combat the worsening security situation in the country, Agriculture Minister Mohammad Asef Rahimi told VOA Tuesday that crops and not guns will determine Afghanistan's future.
Some analysts say government corruption, coupled with incompetence and mismanagement, plagues the reconstruction efforts and contributes to the country's insecurity. But Rahimi sees positive developments, saying his ministry is close to realizing one of its goals of producing enough food to feed all Afghans and sell to others.
On Monday, Afghan security forces killed an attempted suicide bomber outside the venue of the jirga. Two other would-be attackers were arrested.
During a similar gathering in 2010, Taliban militants carried out an attack relatively close to the tent where the jirga was being held, wounding three civilians.
In southern Afghanistan Wednesday, NATO says three of its service members were killed in two separate roadside bomb attacks.
