Security in Afghanistan after the departure of most Nato troops in 2014 is a key issue
A last-minute intervention by US Secretary of State John Kerry may have sealed a security deal allowing US forces to remain in Afghanistan after the end of next year.
Mr Kerry has offered to send a letter, admitting past American mistakes, to a meeting of Afghan elders, a Loya Jirga, convened to consider the deal.
Talks have been going on to produce a document acceptable to both sides.
If there is no deal, Washington will pull out all its troops next year.
The BBC's David Loyn in Kabul says international diplomats have become used to unpredictable changes in 12 years of dealing with President Hamid Karzai.
'Urgent risk'
The last 48 hours have been particularly unnerving, our correspondent says, as months of negotiations were nearly derailed by a late proposal from the Afghan side demanding that the future security deal should prevent US forces from entering Afghan homes.
Hamid Karzai has long maintained opposition to US troops entering homes
But after a direct intervention on the phone from Mr Kerry, the Afghan president has accepted an offer for President Barack Obama to write a letter acknowledging past US mistakes, and requesting that US forces should have the right to enter Afghan homes only in the case of "urgent risk to the life of US soldiers".
If that letter comes, our correspondent says that the deal will then be presented for approval by the Loya Jirga - of up to 3,000 Afghan elders - which convenes on Thursday.
It is a last-minute compromise for a US government that had ideally wanted this deal signed months ago, so that US forces could plan for the period after combat operations end in 2014.
But there are still hurdles ahead even if the compromise is accepted - including a disagreement over who has jurisdiction for any crimes committed by US forces remaining in Afghanistan after 2014.
While State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the two sides continued to make progress, she added: "We're not there yet."
Highly sensitive
Earlier this week a spokesman for the Afghan President Hamid Karzai told the BBC that there was no flexibility possible in the stand taken by his government over US forces entering Afghan homes and mosques.
Mr Kerry appears to have orchestrated a last-minute compromise
He said President Karzai felt very strongly about this, and would not accept any agreement that would allow US forces to enter Afghan homes for what he called "the purpose of aggression".
President Karzai and other Afghan leaders have long maintained opposition to US raids on Afghan homes - a highly sensitive issue throughout the country.
Night raids are particularly offensive because they are perceived as violating the sanctity of women in the house.
The US has insisted that such powers are necessary to prevent terrorist attacks coming from Afghanistan.
Mr Kerry's intervention comes after the commander of the US forces in Afghanistan, General Joseph Dunford, reportedly offered to modify the wording of the agreement to say that US troops would only enter homes "on extraordinary occasions". The New York Times said that offer was rejected by Mr Karzai.
In October Mr Kerry held talks with President Karzai, after which he said they had resolved disagreements over security, although some differences remained.
While the exact terms of what was agreed at those talks were not revealed, Mr Karzai appeared to have secured US agreement not to carry out attacks on Afghan soil without first consulting the Afghan authorities.
But other issues - like the legal jurisdiction over US forces - still clearly need to be discussed.
One of the Loya Jirga's organisers, Hakimullah Mujahed, told the Associated Press that "the trial of foreign soldiers accused of killing innocent Afghans or committing crimes against Afghanistan should be tried in an Afghan court. That's very important."
The failure to resolve this issue in Iraq led to a total withdrawal of US forces.
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