http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/world/asia/us-grants-special-ally-status-to-afghanistan.html

July 7, 2012

U.S. Grants Special Ally Status to Afghanistan

By MATTHEW ROSENBERG and GRAHAM BOWLEY

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The United States declared Afghanistan a major, non-NATO ally on Saturday with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton personally delivering the news of Afghanistan's entry into a club that includes Israel, Japan, Pakistan and other close Asian and Middle Eastern allies.

The move, announced as Mrs. Clinton stood alongside President Hamid Karzai amid the towering trees and rose beds on the grounds of Kabul's presidential palace, was part of a broad strategic partnership deal signed by America and Afghanistan in July, she said. The pact went into effect this past week.

"We see this as a powerful symbol of our commitment to Afghanistan's future," Mrs. Clinton told reporters at the palace.

Afghanistan's designation as a formal ally was the latest in a series of recent American moves that have eased -- though not fully erased -- Afghan fears of being abandoned at the end of NATO's combat mission in 2014.

The next step, Afghan and American officials say, is working out a deal that would keep a residual American force here to continue training Afghan soldiers and hunting militant targets after 2014. Talks on the arrangement have not yet begun, American officials say, and estimates they offer on the number of troops that could stay vary from as few as 10,000 to as many as 25,000 or 30,000.

But Mrs. Clinton reiterated on Saturday that Washington did envision keeping American troops in Afghanistan, where they would also be on hand to provide the kind of air power and surveillance capabilities needed to give Afghan forces an edge over the Taliban.

"This is the kind of relationship that we think will be especially beneficial as we do the transition and as we plan for the post-2014 presence," she said. "It will open the door to Afghanistan's military to have a greater capability and a broader kind of relationship with the United States and especially the United States military."

Mrs. Clinton made a short stop in Kabul en route to Tokyo, where an international conference will be held to raise money to support the Afghan government after 2014. She spoke briefly at the American Embassy before having breakfast with Mr. Karzai and then speaking to reporters.

American officials have struggled at times to assuage Afghan fears of abandonment. Many here fear the country is headed toward a repeat of the early 1990s, when the fall of the Soviet-backed government, coupled with an American pull back from the region, left Afghanistan mired in a brutal civil war.

The Taliban grew out of the chaos, and they quickly took over much of the country.

Along with reassuring jittery Afghans, Mrs. Clinton made clear that she was also sending a message to the Taliban with Saturday's announcement.

The alliance and other American commitments to Afghanistan "should make clear to the Taliban that they cannot wait us out," she said, according to a copy of her prepared remarks. "They can renounce international terrorism and commit to an Afghan peace process, or they will face the increasingly capable Afghan national security forces, backed by the United States."

At the same time, Washington remains committed to the stalled Afghan peace process, she said. The insurgents suspended talks in March -- halting negotiations before they really began -- over delays in a proposed prisoner swap that would see the United States release five Taliban prisoners from Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, in exchange for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the only American soldier known to be held by the insurgents.

Designating Afghanistan an ally, however, has the potential to raise awkward issues for the United States. There is Afghanistan's hot-and-cold relationship with Pakistan, also an ally, and the possibility the two neighbors could fall out with each other, especially if Afghan officials believe in the years after 2014 that their Pakistani counterparts continue to aid the Taliban.

Afghanistan, one of the 10 poorest countries in the world, is also the least developed of America's major, non-NATO allies by a wide margin. Other allies -- such as South Korea, Argentina, Australia and Thailand -- are far more capable of defending themselves and policing their own territory; Afghanistan is only capable of doing that now and for the foreseeable future with ample American help.