Afghans seek US help

Afghanistan Thursday appealed to the US for security assistance after 2014, the date at which US combat troops are to be fully withdrawn.

"We do strongly believe that for Afghanistan to be able to survive in a very volatile region, it will need your help beyond 2014," Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Wardak said at the start of a meeting with counterpart Robert Gates at the Pentagon, according to AFP.

Meanwhile, a suicide car bomb Thursday killed an intelligence agent and wounded 26 other people in Spin Boldak, an Afghan town on the Pakistan border, officials said.

In the last three weeks, more than 100 people have died in six large blasts.

Fu Xiaoqiang, a researcher at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times that despite a steady increase in Afghan security forces, it would still be difficult for the Afghan government to take complete control of the tough domestic situation by the deadline.

"It is not likely that they can be completely independent," Fu said, "Afghanistan would also need US financial support to feed the army after all."

One in three Afghan soldiers drop out of the army each year, but NATO will raise its troop presence to 35,000 by September, an alliance general told AFP Wednesday.

Afghanistan's new ambassador to the US, Eklil Hakimi, said Thursday he was seeking talks between presidents Barack Obama and Hamid Karzai after their relationship became strained over the last year, according to AFP.

Zhang Zhaozhong, a professor at the Chinese National Defense University, told the Global Times that the US would not just leave Afghanistan to rely on its own forces, considering the US' global military strategy.

"The US will definitely keep its military base in Afghanistan to leverage Pakistan, Iran and even Russia," Zhang said.

The appeal from the Afghan government is just rationalizing US interference within this area, Zhang added.

In a statement released after the meeting between Wardak and Gates, the Pentagon said the talks aimed to develop "an enduring strategic partnership" in which Afghans would take charge of their own security and ensure the country "never again becomes a safe haven for extremists that threaten others."

Gates also said the meeting would be the start of a bi-yearly forum that would lay "an enduring foundation for partnership well beyond 2014."

Fu told the Global Times that Obama's decision to withdraw US combat troops by 2014, starting this July, is very much out of political concerns.

"Under the national pressures, Obama has to make decisions that will help him with the upcoming 2012 presidential campaign," he said.

"It is too early to say whether the withdrawal plan will change after the election, but it is sure the US will not leave Afghanistan alone," he added.

Agencies contributed to this story