subject: Karzai urges U.S. taxpayers: end security contractors [print this page]
"I am appealing to the U.S. taxpayer not to allow their hard-earned money to be wasted on groups that are not only providing lots of inconveniences to the Afghan people but actually are, God knows, in contact with Mafia-like groups and perhaps also funding militants and insurgents and terrorists through those funds," Karzai said.
Karzai said the relatively high pay that foreign security firms offer is keeping Afghan people from joining the country's police and security forces.
"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?" Karzai said. "So naturally, our security forces will find it difficult to grow. In order for security forces to grow, these groups must be disbanded."
Karzai has long spoken against private security firms and his decree said they were being banned to avoid misuse of weapons that had caused "horrific and tragic accidents."
However, Karzai said security contractors who protect diplomats and aid workers would be allowed to operate. But he added, "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. That is the job of the Afghan government and the Afghan police."
U.S. President Barack Obama pressured Karzai earlier this year to do more to root out corruption in Afghanistan. The Pentagon sees Karzai's end-of-the-year timeline for foreign contractors to disband as "very aggressive" and challenging.
Foreign security companies, which are deeply unpopular in Afghanistan, have over 30,000 local guards on their books.
"I think he's in a very difficult position," U.S. Army General David Petraeus said in a CBS interview when asked if critics in Washington and elsewhere were being too hard on Karzai.
Petraeus said parliamentary elections set for September would be an important test for the Afghan government and the country overall. "Clearly there is a lot of work to be done (ahead of the elections)," he said.
A portion of the interview was broadcast on "Face The Nation."
Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who recently visited Afghanistan, told "Face The Nation" that the Afghan military had made "progress that I haven't seen before" and that the additional U.S. troops sent by Obama had improved the security situation in the country.
Karzai urges U.S. taxpayers: end security contractors
