(CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Saturday that he and Afghan President Hamid Karzai resolved "the major issues" of an agreement to keep some U.S. military forces in Aghanistan after 2014. But a potential deal-breaker, legal immunity for U.S. troops, was referred to a council of elders. The immunity issue caused the abrupt pullout of U.S. troops from Iraq at the end of 2011. ISAF member killed in Afghanistan Without an agreement, U.S. troops would leave Afghanistan with all NATO forces at the end of 2014. The NATO mission now has about 100,000 troops in Afghanistan, about half from the United States. American and Afghan diplomats have worked for a year on a new agreement which would allow roughly 10,000 American troops to remain.
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Agreement would keep some U.S. forces in Afghanistan after 2014 NATO pullout
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Immunity for American troops killed similar negotiations with Iraq
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Kerry: U.S. respects Afghan process of submitting deal to Loya Jirga council and Parliament
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Karzai says he has U.S. promise to stop unilateral military operations and searches of homes
But he sounded satisfied with assurances that @placeholder troops would limit their operations inside his country.