Afghan Leader Planning to Ban Private Security Forces
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KABUL, Afghanistan -- President Hamid Karzai is planning to sign a decree this week ordering the disbanding of all private security forces by the end of the year, his spokesman said Monday.
But it is not clear how the move, which would constitute an extraordinary change in the security makeup of the country, could be carried out. There are at least 24,000 private armed guards in the country, some foreign but most Afghan, and there is no immediately available alternative for the array of crucial tasks they perform.
They escort convoys of supply trucks across dangerous roads to NATO military bases, protect government and military buildings, and provide protection for political leaders and others.
President Karzai had been under pressure to bring private security companies under control, since a United States Congressional investigation and news reports have asserted that the private guards often behave recklessly and, in some cases, even bribe Taliban insurgents to allow supply convoys to pass unmolested. Some security companies are so large that they constitute private armies of thousands of armed men, who can challenge or ignore local governments.
"They are parallel structure to the government," said Waheed Omar, a spokesman for Mr. Karzai. "They will soon be dissolved."
Mr. Omar did not explain how that would be carried out, or how the companies would be replaced. In the past, the government of Mr. Karzai has sometimes promised things that it has shown itself to be unable to deliver. The president has pledged repeatedly to root out corruption in his government, but his efforts in that regard have fallen far short of the demands of his foreign backers.
Spokesmen for the American-led NATO force in Kabul and officials in Washington expressed cautious approval of Mr. Karzai's goal, but said such a move would depend on the ability of the Afghan Army and the police to replace private guards.
First Published August 17, 2010 2:01 am
