--- title: James Clapper Says Hamid Karzai Unlikely to Sign Afghanistan Pact description: James Clapper says Hamid Karzai probably won't strike a deal for U.S. troops to stay canonical: https://time.com/6406/intelligence-chief-says-afghanistan-leader-unlikely-to-sign-security-pact/ author: Denver Nicks article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-02-11T17:39:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T06:22:01.814Z article:section: Politics og:title: James Clapper Says Hamid Karzai Unlikely to Sign Afghanistan Pact og:description: James Clapper says Hamid Karzai probably won't strike a deal for U.S. troops to stay og:url: https://time.com/6406/intelligence-chief-says-afghanistan-leader-unlikely-to-sign-security-pact/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf7025d4c52f92709/698682813bc99912311a2027/sl_obama0912_0615_19.jpg?branch=production&width=611&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 611 og:image:height: 344 og:image:alt: US Army soldier from 3rd Platoon Chaos C og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: James Clapper Says Hamid Karzai Unlikely to Sign Afghanistan Pact twitter:description: James Clapper says Hamid Karzai probably won't strike a deal for U.S. troops to stay twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf7025d4c52f92709/698682813bc99912311a2027/sl_obama0912_0615_19.jpg?branch=production&width=611&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Intelligence Chief Says Afghanistan Leader Unlikely to Sign Security Pact > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=f37ac258-5da4-431a-bda8-fb434db0b5da&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1)  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Feb 11, 2014 5:39 PM UTC  A U.S. Army soldier from 3rd Platoon Chaos Company 1-75 Cavalry 2nd Brigade 101st Airborne Devision points his gun during a patrol in Siah Choy village in Zari district of Kandahar province, south of Afghanistan on Oct. 24, 2010. A U.S. Army soldier from 3rd Platoon Chaos Company 1-75 Cavalry 2nd Brigade 101st Airborne Devision points his gun during a patrol in Siah Choy village in Zari district of Kandahar province, south of Afghanistan on Oct. 24, 2010. Massoud Hossaini—AFP/Getty Images  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Feb 11, 2014 5:39 PM UTC President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan is unlikely to sign a [security agreement](http://swampland.time.com/2013/11/18/americas-longest-war-likely-to-get-longer/) allowing American troops to stay in the country through the end of this year, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Tuesday. During a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the committee chairman, asked Clapper if it might be best to concede now that the U.S. will need to wait until the Karzai’s successor takes office to finalize the security agreement. “Well, obviously it takes two to sign this. And it’s my own view, not necessarily company policy,” Clapper said, making a distinction between the official position and his personal assessment, “I don’t believe President Karzai is going to sign it.” The Obama administration has been pushing for the security pact to give it breathing room as it works to decide whether to leave a contingent of U.S. troops in the [country](http://world.time.com/2014/02/10/afghan-civilian-casualties-on-the-rise-says-u-n/) or pull out altogether. Karzai has [turned cold](http://world.time.com/2013/11/21/karzai-supports-but-delays-pact-with-u-s/) on the agreement in recent weeks, even though the _loya jirga_—a powerful committee of 2,500 elders from around Afghanistan—gave its approval to the pact. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6406/intelligence-chief-says-afghanistan-leader-unlikely-to-sign-security-pact/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6406/intelligence-chief-says-afghanistan-leader-unlikely-to-sign-security-pact/"},"headline":"Intelligence Chief Says Afghanistan Leader Unlikely to Sign Security Pact","datePublished":"2014-02-11T17:39:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:22:01.814Z","description":"James Clapper says Hamid Karzai probably won't strike a deal for U.S. troops to stay","url":"https://time.com/6406/intelligence-chief-says-afghanistan-leader-unlikely-to-sign-security-pact/","keywords":["Afghanistan"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf7025d4c52f92709/698682813bc99912311a2027/sl_obama0912_0615_19.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Denver Nicks","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf7025d4c52f92709/698682813bc99912311a2027/sl_obama0912_0615_19.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US Army soldier from 3rd Platoon Chaos C","caption":"US Army soldier from 3rd Platoon Chaos C","creditText":"Massoud Hossaini—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/afghanistan/","name":"Afghanistan"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6406/intelligence-chief-says-afghanistan-leader-unlikely-to-sign-security-pact/","name":"Intelligence Chief Says Afghanistan Leader Unlikely to Sign Security Pact"}}]}] ```