Kabul toughens stance against security firms

KABUL – Kabul said on Thursday that President Hamid Karzai ordered his government to intensify efforts to disband private security firms, the latest twist in a saga that has pitted him against his Western allies.
Karzai met his National Security Council (NSC) to discuss the future of the firms, the government announced, one day after rejecting US calls to nearly double the legal quota of private security guards in the war-torn country.
The president, whose relations with Washington have become increasingly strained, in August ordered all the firms disbanded, but later rowed back under pressure from Western allies who said they were necessary for security.
Karzai claims the companies hold back Afghan police and accuses them of security violations, corruption, irregularities and the misuse of weapons.
Foreigners say there are not enough well-trained police to take on the work.
The NSC “assigned the ministry of interior to intensify efforts to create alternative capacities in the ministry for the security of the development projects, and to disband private security firms,” a government statement said.
Karzai asked interior minister Besmillah Mohammadi to inform “international partners” about the decision, the statement issued by Karzai’s office said.
On Wednesday the US ambassador to Afghanistan asked Karzai for 25,000 more private security guards to enable development projects to go ahead, but a senior government official told AFP that Karzai rejected the demand.
The move apparently widens the rift between the embattled Afghan leader and his Western backers,
who are providing 140,000 foreign troops to support his government in fending off a nine-year Taliban insurgency in the country.
In August, Karzai ordered the disbandment of all private security firms, national and international, within four months, but later said licensed firms could continue operations. Under the compromise, security firms with development company contracts, as well as those that work for NATO, foreign embassies and the United Nations, were allowed to operate until their contracts expire.