KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Echoing a growing problem in Iraq, Afghan authorities are cracking down on lucrative but largely unregulated security firms, some of which are suspected of murder.
Two private Afghan security companies were raided and shut down this week, and a dozen or more contractors – including some protecting embassies – would be closed soon, police and Western officials told The Associated Press on Thursday.
The government is proposing new rules to tighten control over such firms, including some Western companies, amid concerns they intimidate Afghans, show disrespect to local security forces and don’t cooperate with authorities, according to a draft policy document obtained by The AP.
The crackdown echoes efforts by authorities in Iraq to rein in private security contractors often accused of acting with impunity.
Dozens of security companies also operate in Afghanistan, some of them well- known U.S. firms such as Blackwater USA and Dyncorp, but also many others that may not be known even to the Afghan government.
Authorities on Tuesday closed the Afghan-run security firms Watan and Caps, where 82 illegal weapons were found during the two raids in Kabul, police Gen. Ali Shah Paktiawal said.
More companies – “maybe 13, maybe 14” – will be closed next week, including some whose employees may have committed murder or robberies, he said.
Security companies that guard Western embassies are among those firms, a Western security official said on condition he not be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. He would not identify the companies.
Many foreign embassies in Kabul rely on private guards because Afghan forces don’t have the skills, or the trustworthiness, to carry out high-profile protection jobs.
The private security firms have caused resentment among many Afghans, who feel the companies consider themselves above the law.
Despite the attention on the recent Blackwater incident in Baghdad in which 17 Iraqis were killed, the Western security official said the catalyst for the Afghan reforms was the May 2006 anti-foreigner riot in Kabul, which erupted over a wreck involving a U.S. military truck. Some 20 people died in the turmoil, mostly of gunshot wounds.
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Marines set inquiry in civilian deathsCAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. – An official court of inquiry will investigate a shooting in Afghanistan involving a Marine special operations company in which civilians were killed, the Marine Corps said Thursday.
The step is a preliminary one and is not a criminal proceeding, and no charges have been filed against the Marines in the March shooting. Conflicting reports have cited between 10 and 19 fatalities and several dozen civilians wounded.
Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission said the shooting occurred along a 10-mile stretch of road after a minivan laden with explosives rammed a military convoy in Nangahar province.
Injured Afghans said the Marines – part of the 2nd Marine Special Operations Battalion – fired indiscriminately. Eight members of the company were brought back to Camp Lejeune, and the rest were ordered out of Afghanistan while military officials investigate.
