'Impossible' Afghan security target

Published on Monday 16 August 2010 16:43

AFGHAN president Hamid Karzai set himself an "impossible" task yesterday, announcing plans to scrap his country's multi-million dollar private security industry within the next four months.

• President Hamid Karzai. Pic: Getty

US and European officials were deeply sceptical of his timetable to disband all 52 private security companies by the end of the year, insisting Afghan forces were nowhere near ready to take over. Afghan officials welcomed the announcement.

"The president is going to issue a four-month deadline for the dissolution of private security companies," Waheed Omer, Mr Karzai's spokesman, said.

American, British and Nato forces rely on highly-paid private security firms to escort untold shipments of food, water and fuel, which keep their soldiers alive in the most volatile parts of the south and east.

"Any handover will have to be phased," said a senior western security source. "There's no way we can all abort and expect the police to take over."

The announcement slashes a two-year transition plan in half, and follows tense exchanges between the palace and the international community. Without suitable alternatives, the decision to outlaw private security firms could paralyse international operations and as well as many aid efforts in Afghanistan.

Staff at some aid agencies, including the US Agency for International Development and Britain's Department for International Development, are forbidden from leaving their compounds in many parts of the country unless they are accompanied by heavily armed mercenaries.

The security companies, which employ between 30,000-40,000 armed personnel according to Mr Karzai's office, have faced heavy criticism in recent months for paying off insurgents in volatile areas and shooting civilians with impunity.

A spokesman for Nato's International Security Assistance Force, General Josef Blotz, said dissolving private security companies, or bringing them under Afghan law, was a shared priority, but he insisted it would only happen when there were sufficient Afghan government forces to fill the void.

"There's a condition to it and this condition is we need to have enough Afghan national security force that can provide the necessary security which is prerequisite for the private security companies to do it," he said.

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Some companies are little more than private militias loyal to veteran warlords, others, like G4S which guards the British embassy, are among the biggest security companies in the world.The divide over whether the move is possible has highlighted differences between the Afghan government and their international backers.

"Private firms pay the Taliban not to attack their vehicles," said Daoud Ahmadi, the spokesman for Helmand's governor."The private security disrupt the security in Helmand province."

Zalmai Ayubi, the governor's spokesman in Kandahar, admitted the firms provided necessary employment but insisted security would improve once they were dissolved.

The US military set up a task force in June to tighten regulation and oversight of its security contractors, but officials are wary of deadlines.

Privately, many contractors warned aid workers would be forced to leave the country. "There's no way they will stay in country without private security - international private security," said a senior western security analyst. "It's a liability issue. What if something happened and they didn't have any security in place?"