A top aide to President Obama, shown, said that the United States and Afghanistan will sign a troop agreement on Tuesday.(Photo: Jewel Samad, AFP/Getty Images)


A top aide to President Obama said Monday that the United States and Afghanistan will sign an agreement Tuesday allowing some 10,000 U.S. troops to stay in Afghanistan after combat operations end at the close of this year.

The U.S. had been unable to get former Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai to sign such an agreement, but the new Afghan government will do so, said White House senior adviser John Podesta.

Podesta made the announcement after attending the inauguration of new Afghan President Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai.

Under the bilateral security agreement to be signed Tuesday, the U.S. troops remaining in Afghanistan will provide general security and help train Afghan security forces.

U.S. combat operations in Afghanistan are set to end Dec. 31.

Ahmadzai took office after a disputed election to succeed Karzai.

The two sides settled on a power sharing agreement in which Ahmadzai becomes president, and his opponent — Abdullah Abdullah — takes the newly created post of chief executive.

During the campaign, both candidates pledged to see a post-combat agreement with the United States.

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