Karzai: Contractors are an ‘impediment’ to security in Afghanistan

Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday defended his decision to disband thousands of private security contractors across the country, saying those forces represent “a parallel security structure” that’s hobbling the Afghan government. 

“They are wasting billions of dollars of resources, and they are definitely an obstruction, an impediment in a most serious matter to the growth of Afghanistan’s security institutions, the police and the army,” Karzai told Christiane Amanpour on ABC’s “This Week.”

{mosads}”Why would an Afghan young man come to the police if he can get a job in a security firm, have a lot of leeway and without any discipline? … In order for security forces to grow, these groups must be disbanded.”

Karzai shocked U.S. officials last week when his office asked all private security forces to leave the country within four months. Tens of thousands of contractors would be affected by the proclamation, against which the Obama administration is already pushing.

Exceptions would be made, Karzai said, for those companies providing protection to embassies and foreign-aid groups. Those forces will still be allowed to operate “within their compounds” or to escort foreign dignitaries “from place to place.” 

“But we will definitely not allow them to be on the roads, in the bazaars, in the streets, on the highways, and we will not allow them to provide protection to supply lines,” Karzai said. “That is the job of the Afghan government and the Afghan police.”

Karzai noted corruption concerns were also a big factor guiding his decision. Private security forces, he said, are “looting and stealing from the Afghan people [and] causing a lot of harassment to our civilians.”

“We don’t know whether they are security companies at daytime and then some of them turn into terroristic groups at nighttime,” he said.

The Afghan president also indicated the war against terrorist insurgents in Afghanistan is “absolutely winnable.” But he cautioned there’s a long way to go to secure the type of civilian support required to ensure that outcome. 

“We have to win,” Karzai said. “But in order for us to do that, we must end the business as usual and we must begin to reexamine whether … we [have] the support of the Afghan people or whether that support is declining. 

“If it is declining, then there are reasons for it, and we must correct those reasons.”

As part of that “hearts and minds” campaign, Karzai said the government is ready to reach out to those Taliban leaders “who belong to Afghanistan and who are not part of al Qaeda, who are not part of any other terrorist network.”

Pushed by Amanpour, Karzai said any deals with the Taliban wouldn’t erode recent moves to grant Afghan women more rights. 

It’s the government’s job, he said, “to make sure that the gains we have made, especially the gains that our women have made in political, social and economic walks of life, not only are kept but are promoted and advanced further.”

Karzai also expressed regret surrounding the recent stoning of a young couple that had eloped, saying the episode came as “a deep, deep shock.”

“That’s a terrible sign,” he said. “That’s indeed part of our failure — the Afghan government and the international community as well — to give protection to the Afghan people.”