( 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 . Karzai said he did not have the authority to negotiate immunity for foreign troops . `` We will leave this to the representatives of Afghanistan who will come to the Loya Jirga , and then take it to the Afghan Parliament , and the Afghan people can decide on this , '' he said through an interpreter at a joint press conference in Kabul . After Karzai recited a list of complaints about American operations in the country , Kerry struck a positive tone . `` We have resolved in these last 24 hours the major issues the president went through , '' he said , adding the United States would `` respect completely '' the need for the agreement to be approved by the Loya Jirga council of elders next month and then the Afghan Parliament . Karzai complained that the United States ' security guarantees have fallen short of protecting his country from attacks short of invasion -- a reference to possible threats from Pakistan . But he sounded satisfied with assurances that American troops would limit their operations inside his country . `` The U.S. has agreed to stop all unilateral operations in Afghanistan , '' Karzai said . He added later , `` And under no circumstances foreign forces go and search the homes of Afghans . '' CNN 's Yousuf Basil contributed to this report .
He would keep some U.S. troops in Afghanistan after 2014 NATO pullout . Immunity for American troops in similar negotiations with Iran . Kerry : U.S. stops Afghan process of making deal to Loya ##t council and parliament . Karzai says he has U.S. promise to stop unilateral military operations and searches of homes .