This article is more than 9 years old

This article is more than 9 years old

The vexed question of the terms under which US forces should remain in Afghanistan after the official pullout date of 2014 will be thrown open to the Afghan people, Hamid Karzai has promised.

In a speech marking International Women's Day, Karzai said that a loya jirga, or gathering of tribal grandees, would be held as soon as Washington and Kabul had finished negotiating a long-term deal.

Karzai's spokesman said it was too early to say whether it would be a full court loya jirga, like the one convened in 2003 to approve the Afghan constitution, or more like the consultative "peace jirga" called last summer to consider peace talks with the Taliban.

The issue of whether to allow permanent bases for US forces has sparked a heated debate. Anti-Americanism, fuelled by botched military operations and civilian deaths, is at an all-time high. Many religious leaders have condemned the plan.

One senior diplomat in Kabul told the Guardian it was unlikely a loya jirga would approve the long-term stay of US soldiers. But most Afghan officials believe bases are vital for protecting the country from meddling by Pakistan, Iran and India.

In confidential US cables released by WikiLeaks, it was revealed that the Afghan president had offered Kandahar and Bagram airfields as permanent US property. The US ambassador, Karl Eikenberry, told Karzai the US had no interest in permanent bases – something the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, has repeated.

However, a long-term presence looks inevitable with few Nato officials believing the Taliban insurgency will be stamped out by 2014.

Karzai is increasingly focused on the transition from Nato to Afghan control of security, and will soon announce which provinces will be handed over first.

He also called for the removal of Nato's provincial reconstruction teams, security companies and a flagship local policing initiative he described as being little better than "militias".