The US military has signed a last-minute agreement to transfer its main detention centre in Afghanistan to Afghan control in six months, a key step towards a long-term pact on the US military presence.
The deal removes a sticking point that had threatened to derail the two countries' partnership and has been critical to defining the US role as it draws down troops in the country.
The agreement extends a deadline set by Afghan president Hamid Karzai for the transfer of some 3000 Afghan detainees at the Parwan facility, a US-run prison adjoining its Bagram military base outside the capital Kabul, but also for the first time spells out an American commitment to a solid transfer date.
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