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Afghanistan bans more security firms
Sun Jul 3, 2011 1:35PM
PressTV - Afghanistan bans more security firms
The Afghan government has banned the operation of five more private security companies in the war-ravaged country, senior officials say.
An Interior Ministry official says the firms including a foreign company have been completely dissolved and their operations banned nationwide.
Abdul Razaq Amiri, the deputy of the Counter-Terrorism department of the ministry told a press conference in Kabul on Sunday that over 450 pieces of weapons were collected from the companies.
Over fifty national and international private security firms have been dissolved since last year upon the order of President Hamid Karzai.
The president accuses them of killing of civilians and corruption.
The move comes months after Afghanistan officially banned several domestic and foreign security firms, including American contractor Xe Services LLC, formerly known as Blackwater.
The company has been struggling with a trail of legal cases and civil lawsuits, including one for killing 17 Iraqi civilians during a Baghdad shootout in 2007.
The private companies are said to be in charge of providing security for foreign officials and embassies as well as development projects in Afghanistan.
President Karzai has said foreign security firms are only worsening the security situation in Afghanistan.
Most of the foreign mercenaries are believed to have close ties with the Afghan warlords.
They are also accused of contributing to the rising number of civilian casualties in the country.
JR/HGH/MMN
Sun Jul 3, 2011 1:35PM
PressTV - Afghanistan bans more security firms
The Afghan government has banned the operation of five more private security companies in the war-ravaged country, senior officials say.
An Interior Ministry official says the firms including a foreign company have been completely dissolved and their operations banned nationwide.
Abdul Razaq Amiri, the deputy of the Counter-Terrorism department of the ministry told a press conference in Kabul on Sunday that over 450 pieces of weapons were collected from the companies.
Over fifty national and international private security firms have been dissolved since last year upon the order of President Hamid Karzai.
The president accuses them of killing of civilians and corruption.
The move comes months after Afghanistan officially banned several domestic and foreign security firms, including American contractor Xe Services LLC, formerly known as Blackwater.
The company has been struggling with a trail of legal cases and civil lawsuits, including one for killing 17 Iraqi civilians during a Baghdad shootout in 2007.
The private companies are said to be in charge of providing security for foreign officials and embassies as well as development projects in Afghanistan.
President Karzai has said foreign security firms are only worsening the security situation in Afghanistan.
Most of the foreign mercenaries are believed to have close ties with the Afghan warlords.
They are also accused of contributing to the rising number of civilian casualties in the country.
JR/HGH/MMN