Afghans say deal agreed over US security pact Breakthrough: Afghan President Hamid Karzai says Barack Obama will acknowledge US military mistakes in Afghanistan. Afghan officials said on Tuesday that President Hamid Karzai would clear the way for a long-term security pact with the United States after receiving assurances that US President Barack Obama would issue a letter acknowledging US military mistakes in Afghanistan and vowing not to repeat them. Mr Karzai's spokesman, Aimal Faizi, said in return, Mr Karzai would accept wording allowing US-led raids on Afghan homes under "extraordinary circumstances" to save the lives of US soldiers. Afghan officials said that the breakthrough had come about during a phone call by US Secretary of State John Kerry to Mr Karzai on Tuesday. Mr Kerry initially offered to write the letter, and Mr Karzai said he would compromise if Mr Obama sent it instead - a stipulation to which Mr Kerry agreed, according to Mr Faizi. White House spokesman Jay Carney would not comment on whether Mr Obama had agreed to such terms. Even if both sides agree on a final wording for the security deal, the Afghans have made their final approval contingent on a vote this week by a loya jirga - a grand council of Afghan elders. Mr Faizi said that Kabul had bowed to Washington's requirement that it retain legal jurisdiction over its soldiers, rendering them immune to Afghan prosecution for their actions in the country. A similar requirement led to the collapse of talks with Iraq to establish a long-term security deal, and an immediate final withdrawal of US troops from that country in 2011.