Kerry, Rasmussen Expect Afghan Security Pact After Karzai Leaves

The election is set for April 5.

John Kerry and Hamid Karzai

(WASHINGTON, DC Radio Free Europe/Rad) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says the next president of Afghanistan will sign the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) that will provide for U.S. soldiers to remain in the country after this year.

Kerry said in Washington that if it wasn't for Afghan President Hamid Karzai, "we would be on a different track today."

The United States has expressed it's unhappiness with Karzai's refusal to sign the BSA, which was negotiated last year.

Kerry said the majority of the Afghan presidential candidates have said they will sign it.

The election is on April 5.

Meanwhile, in Brussels, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on February 26 that he also didn't think Karzai will sign the agreement but "we continue planning for a deployment...assuming that a new president will sign [it]."

Based on reporting by AFP and RFE/RL Brussels correspondent Rikard Jozwiak