NATO head: Afghan president unlikely to sign stalled security pact, will leave it to successor

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen is reflected on a glass surface as he answers question to the Associated Press, in Athens, on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014. NATO’s secretary general has expressed outrage at the extreme violence in Ukraine, where dozens of protesters have been killed in clashes with police in the country’s capital, and warned the continued mayhem could affect Ukraine’s relations with the alliance.(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) (The Associated Press)

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NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen is reflected on a glass surface as he answers a question to the Associated Press, in Athens, on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014. NATO’s secretary general has expressed outrage at the extreme violence in Ukraine, where dozens of protesters have been killed in clashes with police in the country’s capital, and warned the continued mayhem could affect Ukraine’s relations with the alliance. (AP Photo / Petros Giannakouris) (The Associated Press)

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen answers question to the Associated Press, in Athens, on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014. NATO’s secretary general has expressed outrage at the extreme violence in Ukraine, where dozens of protesters have been killed in clashes with police in the country’s capital, and warned the continued mayhem could affect Ukraine’s relations with the alliance.(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) (The Associated Press)

ATHENS, Greece – NATO's secretary general says he believes Afghan President Hamid Karzai will not sign a long-stalled security pact with the United States allowing American troops to remain in Afghanistan after the end of 2014, and will leave it to his successor after April elections.

The U.S. is the largest contributor of troops to the NATO military coalition in Afghanistan. The international forces' mandate expires at the end of the year, and the U.S. and NATO have been negotiating agreements on maintaining some troops in Afghanistan to train and support Afghan security forces.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday night that although NATO envisaged signing a separate pact with Kabul, it would not be finalized unless Afghanistan also signed the bilateral security agreement with the U.S.