KABUL: Afghanistan's president Hamid Karzai said he was in no rush to sign a security deal with the United States, once again dashing American hopes that a pact can be quickly finalised.

President Karzai told a youth conference in the capital on Tuesday that a deal could be signed by his successor after next April's election for a new head of state.

The security deal will give the US a legal basis for having forces in Afghanistan after 2014.

It was not the first time Karzai had said there was no rush for the agreement, but his comments came one day after President Barack Obama's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, James Dobbins, said Washington was optimistic a deal could be signed in October.