KABUL, Afghanistan — U.S.-funded development firms are beginning to shut down reconstruction projects because the Afghan government has refused to rescind a ban on their use of private security guards, according to U.S. officials and aid workers in Afghanistan.
The decision to start shuttering the projects, collectively worth hundreds of millions of dollars, could have far-reaching effects on the U.S.-led military campaign against the Taliban, disrupting a central component of the strategy to counter the insurgency at a critical moment in the war. Programs to assist Afghan farmers and improve local government, which are vital to the overall U.S. effort to stabilize the volatile southern and eastern parts of the country, are among those that will be affected, the officials said.
The consequences of the ban on development firms employing private guards “will be catastrophic,” said one U.S. official involved in the issue. “If these projects grind to a halt, we might as well go home. They are essential to the counterinsurgency strategy.”
Another U.S. official said the ban would affect about $1.5 billion in ongoing reconstruction work. More than 20,000 Afghans will lose jobs in road-building and energy projects alone, the official said.
The ban, which was enacted by President Hamid Karzai and goes into effect Dec. 17, affects all development firms and nongovernmental organizations, including those funded by other countries and the United Nations. It also applies to private contractors who guard supply convoys for the military bearing food, fuel and other essential supplies, as well as to international banks and other private entities whose services support reconstruction work.
Diplomats and representatives of the companies contend that private securityguards are essential to operations in much of the country because of the threat of insurgent attacks and criminal activity.
But Afghan officials argue that private security contractors operate with little oversight or accountability and sometimes function as private militias that are beyond the control of the country’s police force and army.
Most of the private security companies employed by development firms rely on Afghan guards who are supervised by foreigners. Some of the firms are Afghan-owned, while others are internationalfirms that operate in multiple countries.
The Afghan government wants development workers and their projects to be guarded by police officers and soldiers, a goal that diplomats and aid workers say is unrealistic because the local government security forces are corrupt, ill-trained and not numerous enough to do the job. The development firms have also said they would be unable to insure their employees - a key prerequisite for operations in a war zone - if they are unable to employ private guards.
“If we don’t have privatesecurity, we cannot operate in Afghanistan,” said one development executive, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. “It’s not open to negotiation.”
U.S. and NATO diplomats have been working furiously to soften the prohibition since it was authorized over the summer. Under pressure from Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, Karzai’s national security council issued an exemption Sunday for military bases, embassies, diplomatic residences and diplomatic convoys.
Karzai’s chief of staff, Umer Daudzai, said in an interview Thursday that the president does not intend to grant an exemption for development firms. “We know some projects may be delayed. We know some projects may close down even,” he said. “But it’s worth it because the other side [retaining private security contractors] is even more dangerous.”
Although the ban does not take effect for nearly two months, some development firms have started closing or suspending their operations because of the time required to unwind activities in an orderly way.
“Terminating contracts and grants is a really delicate process, and it takes time,” one development specialist in Kabul said. “You can’t do this overnight.”
Aid workers and development executives agreed to discuss the issue because they believe public attention will increase pressure on the Afghan government to reverse its position.
Meanwhile, Petraeus said allied forces are in the “final stages” of a large operation to clear insurgent fighters from key regions just west of Kandahar, the country’s second-largest city and principal focus of the coalition’s military campaign against the Taliban.
Petraeus, speaking in an interview at NATO headquarters in Kabul, said the operation in the Zhari and Panjwai districts, which began a month ago and involves thousands of U.S., Afghan and Canadian troops, is proceeding “more rapidly than was anticipated.”
Military officials and Afghan leaders have reported increasing stability in largeswaths of the area that had been firmly in the grip of insurgents a few weeks ago, although they acknowledge that they remain contested by pockets of Taliban holdouts.
In new violence, Taliban fighters attacked a NATO convoy and killed three drivers before setting 13 fuel tankers ablaze in southeastern Afghanistan, an Afghan official said Friday.
Information for this article was contributed by Joshua Partlow of The Washington Post and by Katharine Houreld of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 9 on 10/23/2010