REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Frustrated about prospects of getting Afghan President Hamid Karzai to sign a long-term security deal, the United States is considering waiting until he leaves office before completing the pact and deciding on a troop presence beyond 2014, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

"If he's not going to be part of the solution, we have to have a way to get past him," the Journal quoted a senior US official as saying. "It's a pragmatic recognition that clearly Karzai may not sign the (deal) and that he doesn't represent the voice of the Afghan people."

The White House, asked about the report, said it was standing by its previous comments on the issue.

The United States would like to leave more than 10,000 troops in Afghanistan for counterterrorism and training of Afghan forces after US forces formally withdraw at the end of this year following a 13-year mission in Afghanistan begun after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

But Karzai has refused so far to sign a bilateral security agreement that Washington insists must be approved before it will agree to leave the troop contingent behind. The White House says that in the absence of a bilateral agreement, all US forces will withdraw at the end of the year, and that a decision by Karzai is needed within weeks. Karzai has called that an empty threat and suggested any security deal could wait until after the April elections.

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