Obama and Karzai discuss US post-2014 role in Afghanistan

US President Barack Obama and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai are set to discuss the US role in Afghanistan after 2014, when the mandate of ISAF expires. The Afghan president started his US visit on Tuesday, January 8.

Obama and Karzai will talk about the size of US troops remaining in the war-torn country after all other NATO troops will have left. They will also touch upon the possibility of renewing the peace process with the radical movement Taliban.

Earlier, Karzai said that he was willing to grant immunity to US troops in his country under the condition that the US would "give us [Afghanistan] a good army, a good air force and a capability to project Afghan interests in the region".

After his meeting with Karzai, Obama will officially decide on the size of US mission in Afghanistan after 2014. He is said to consider keeping 6,000 to 10,000 troops in Afghanistan, compared to the 66,000 US troops currently stationed in the country.

Both Obama and the US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta have promised that the US will not abandon Afghanistan after the end of NATO's ISAF mission.

However, Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul has expressed concerns that the withdrawal will create an economic gap.

"NATO troops withdrawal will create economic issues for us. Thousands of Afghans are working on these bases and we should prevent economic gap since unemployment will itself become a major risk for the future of Afghanistan," Rassoul stated one week prior to Karzai's US visit.