Locals said what they disliked most about the PSCs is their "cowboy-like" behavior and their heavy weaponry.

 

Enjoying the same immunity of colleagues in Iraq, private security companies (PSC) are aggravating the prevailing sense of insecurity in Afghanistan the chaos-mired country, a Swiss think-tank concluded in a study released on Monday, November 12.

"Overall, PSCs are not seen in a positive light in Afghanistan," said Swisspeace, a peace research institute.

"Wile PSCs may provide security for their clients, they are considered not to enhance the security of the general population."

The study said most Afghans believe that the "cowboy-like" security contractors are a source of distrust and insecurity.

Afghans are irked by the impunity enjoyed by the heavily-armed personnel who usually carry no identification and travel in vehicles with no license plates.

"Most of the concerns raised by those interviewed are linked to the inherent problems related to insufficient transparency, lacking legal regulations and inappropriate monitoring."

The study said some Afghans could not even distinguish the security contractors from the police, army and US-led foreign forces.

PSCs win a foothold in Afghanistan after the US-led invasion of the Asian Muslim country in 2001.

Between 18,500 and 28,000 armed personnel are estimated to be employed as security contractors.

They reportedly carry a minimum of 43,750 weapons, ranging from semi-automatic handguns to rocket-propelled grenades, the study said.

Their main task is to guard embassies and other premises or act as bodyguards.

Some, like the US-based DynCorp, train Afghan police.

Suspicious

Swisspeace, founded in 1988 to research the causes of war and conflict and develop tools to prevent them, said security contractors are involved in suspicious and criminal activities.

Some PSCs, like the American Blackwater, have been associated with interrogating terror suspects arrested by US forces.

They are also engaged in extortion, kidnapping and the smuggling of drugs.

The study further said that narcotics tycoons in the opium-rich country have recruited security contractors and local militias to protect their convoys.

Blackwater's controversial activities in Iraq have brought the nature of security contractors under the spotlight.

Riding machine-gun mounted utility vehicles, the armed contractors employed by the North Carolina firm have gained a notoriety for shooting first and not bothering to ask questions later.

Established 10 years ago by Erik Prince, right-wing son of a multi-millionaire and a former Navy SEAL, the security consulting firm has grown into what US investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill describes as the "world's most powerful mercenary army."

According to Scahill, Blackwater has "more than 2,300 private soldiers deployed in nine countries including the United States."

Swisspeace said security companies often hire former Afghan militiamen either as individuals or, in some cases, en masse along with their local warlord commander.

"While there is a positive argument to be made that private security company employment keeps former strongmen and their militia off the streets…the dilemma as to what will happen to these militia when the contract ends needs to be addressed."

It accused the Kabul government of having failed to pass a law it has been debating over the past years to regulating the work of security contractors.

It said the government has, to date, only been able to register only 35 of the 140 PSCs operating in the country.

The DynCorp was not among them which was "puzzling" because the company has contracts with the government and once provided bodyguards for President Hamid Karzai himself.

"PSC regulation seems extremely necessary in Afghanistan in order to provide an incentive for good behavior and to prevent misconduct as well as illegal business practices."

 

Source: Islamonline.net