In a latest embarassing spat between the West and the Hamid Karzai government in Kabul, the United States has warned the Afghan government of paralysing international military and civilian operations by cracking down on private security guards carrying firearms. The West is already under pressure to improve the security situation inside the war-ravaged country and the latest diplomatic tangle proves the uneasiness that exists between the Karzai government and the West. These are truly troubling times for Afghanistan and the coalition forces.
As the Times reported in its website, the US ambassador to Afghanistan met President Hamid Karzai and asked him to resolve the stand-off between the Interior Ministry and the Afghanistan’s booming private security industry which employs many foreigners to tackle a growing security threat. Although Kabul has promised to resolve the matter, it is not going to be easy a task. Since the invasion of the United States in Afghanistan in 2001, Afghan private security industry has grown massively which has made the police and the interior ministry a bit concerned about the private sector’s booming rise. A sense of power struggle has crept into government’s policy against the private security sector and that has probably prompted the crackdown. The leadership in Kabul has defended the action as a crackdown on illegal agencies and arms but international security officials, who contribute much for the internal security of Afghanistan, have accused the governemnt of stealing arms from their international security clients.
The crackdown may not prove to be a big deal in the end but it raises an important question whether international security operations are at all welcome in the volatile country nowadays. Hamid Karzai is reportedly unsatisfied at NATO’s growing split over troop contribution in the south of the country to tackle a resurgent Taliban and the unwanted crackdown incident would potentially increase more gulf between the West and Kabul. Yet both sides know cooperation is the key word for success in a highly sensitive country like Afghanistan and any reduction of committment on the part of both the international community and the Afghan government would spell disaster for the country and the Afghans would again be at the mercy of warring radical warlords.
Private security is important in Afghanistan and the industry is being taken forward by international security experts. With the Taliban increasing its web on all sectors of the Afghan society, these private security agencies act as great links with Afghan army and NATO in capturing Al Qaeda and Taliban sympathisers. The unusual government crackdown on private guards would help in favouring the enemy instead.
Source: Times Online
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