A showdown between the Afghan government


A showdown between the Afghan government and the international community over the status of private security companies fizzled Monday, when Afghan officials reversed themselves and announced that most legitimate companies will be permitted to remain in the country for the time being.

While the Afghan government announced some measures to streamline the operations of private security companies to ensure they operate discreetly and are less disruptive to Afghan life, the real message was that the government of Afghanistan had the final say.

Concerns that President Hamid Karzai would go through with an August decree banning all but a small handful of private security companies were eased.

Such a move could have put at risk billions of dollars in international aid projects, since many international workers rely on private companies to guard them.

Instead, Gen. Abdul Manan Farahi, an advisor to the Afghan interior minister, said that while the government was disbanding 57 illegal security companies, there were 52 legitimate companies that can stay in place, as long as they follow the rules.

“Those companies violating [the rules], even if they are guarding embassies, will be banned and will have to leave the country,” Farahi said.

The announcement comes as little surprise after months of quiet negotiations between international representatives and the Afghan government. While Karzai’s initial decree banned nearly all international security companies in a show of muscle against international forces on Afghan soil, it quickly became clear that the Afghan government was not in a position to provide the necessary security for all the development projects under way. 

U.S. officials had publicly echoed Karzai’s concerns, but privately expressed worry about the safety of aid workers, a statement echoed by President Barack Obama three weeks ago during a NATO conference in Portugal.

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