- Night raids are deeply unpopular among Afghans
- U.S. officials say the practice is vital
- Talks have been going on for weeks
Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Afghanistan and the United States may soon reach a deal over night raids by U.S. and Afghan Special Forces on local dwellings that would increase Afghan control over and participation in the controversial operations.
Night raids are deeply unpopular among Afghans, but U.S. officials say they are vital to NATO's operation against insurgents.
One Afghan official stressed the deal would mean night raids complied with Afghan laws. A U.S. official insisted any compromise would not impede NATO's effectiveness.
"There has been some very good progress," President Hamid Karzai's spokesman Aimal Faizi said. "Both sides are very close to agreement on a memorandum of understanding under which all night operations will be fully Afghanized and conducted under Afghan laws."
A U.S. official declined to comment "on the specifics of ongoing negotiations."
"A memorandum of understanding will be in accordance with the ongoing process of Afghanistan of special operations as required by the November loya jirga and will meet U.S. operational needs," the official said. A loya jirga is a national assembly of tribal elders.
Talks have been ongoing for weeks now on this key memorandum of understanding to address perhaps the most difficult issue in the partnership between Kabul and Washington.
The agreement would remove one of the obstacles in the way of a highly symbolic Strategic Partnership Document, outlining the U.S.-Afghan cooperation for the years after NATO's 2014 drawdown.
Night raids also present a particular challenge to Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Their strong unpopularity has forced him to demand they stop, or at least stop using foreign troops, despite their operational significance to NATO.
A senior Afghan official said details of the arrangement were changing daily and meetings ongoing, but the issue of compliance under Afghan law was key to the ongoing talks. A legal process, such as the issuing of a warrant of arrest, would have to take place before any raids happened, the official said.
It would not be enough -- as suggested in some reports รข€" if the legal process just involved asking a judge after the raid for permission to keep any detainees captured in custody, the official said.
Karzai says Afghanistan's homes and villages need to be safe and protected.
"What we are asking for, in very specific and clear terms, (is that) no foreign forces should enter Afghan homes," he said last year.
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said last month that while it's important such operations continue, he said the United States is making changes.
Gen. John Allen, head of ISAF forces, said last month that "we have come a very long way in creating greater capacity among the Afghans to conduct night operations in a very credible way."
"Now, we're still heavily partnered with them, and we will be for some period of time, but ... all of our night operations are partnered with Afghan partner unit forces."
