Karzai puts off security contractor expulsion

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has backed down faced with foreign presure and announced that a commission is to decide on a calendar for the abolition of foreign private security firms in the country.  It’s a victory for Nato as he had previously said they would be outlawed by the end of the year.

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Foreign workers in the country say they’re the only way essential development work can be carried out safely.

On 17 August Karzai signed a decree saying that the 52 private security firms in the country would not be able to function by the end of the year, with the exception of teams protecting embassies and the military bases of international forces.

Several firms have been accused of being involved in incidents which have resulted in civilian deaths.

But the country’s Interior Ministry is now to organise talks with Nato.

“The committee will propose plans for the dissolution of private security firms who assure security for development projects, and they will prepare a calendar for their dissolution, and put them before the president on 15 November”, said a spokesman.

Meanwhile, three British military units in Afghanistan are facing questions about their conduct after the deaths of a number of Afghan civilians. According to the Guardian newspaper, two-thirds of casualties caused by British forces were linked to three units.

The information released to the paper by the Ministry of Defence shows that the Coldstream Guards shot four civilians in Kabul over four weeks, while Royal Marine commandos killed or sounded civilians eight times in six months. Children were among the casualties.