Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ruled out signing any Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) allowing US and foreign troops to stay in the nation beyond 2014 today, saying there are major disagreements with the foreign powers that need to be addressed before the pact could be considered.

“On the security front the entire NATO exercise was one that caused Afghanistan a lot of suffering, a lot of loss of life, and no gains,” Karzai noted, elaborating on comments from his spokesman yesterday.

Karzai went on to say that NATO and the US had repeatedly launched operations in express opposition to his government’s wishes, notably night raids, and was clearly willing to violate Afghan sovereignty whenever it suits them.

The US has expressed hope to have a pact in place by the end of this month, but it seems unlikely that Karzai will back down, and it is likely the US will simply have to wait until the 2014 election and hope Karzai’s successor will be more willing to accept their terms.