Two more Afghan security firms shut down

In an effort that parallels Iraq's attempt to reign in PMCs, Afghanistan has shut down two more private security firms (bringing the total to four in the past week).  So far all the closures have been Afghan firms (rather than international firms) but that could soon change. The police last week said they plan to shut down a dozen firms all told -- if PMCs tied to donor countries or powerful Afghans are among them, expect a scuffle.

The regulations on these firms is so lax that there is not even a publicly-available register for them (!) The MoI says 60 firms have registered with it, but the AP suspects there are perhaps two dozen others in operation. Without regulation, accountability and a mandate for when and how force can be used, how are these "firms" anything more than guys with guns?

Here's the original AP story:

Kabul shuts down two more security firms (AP) October 18, 2007, KABUL: Two more private Afghan security firms were closed down on Wednesday, police said, in a continuing crackdown on a lucrative but largely unregulated security industry. Authorities raided Falcon and Millet after both companies’ licenses to operate in Afghanistan expired, recovering more than 80 illegal weapons, police said in a statement.

Gen Ali Shah Paktiawal, the head of criminal investigation for Kabul police, said the deputy head of Millet company was detained after he initiated a scuffle with the officers conducting the raid. Paktiawal would not say where Wednesday’s raids occurred.

It was not immediately possible to contact either company for comment. Afghanistan lacks a public register of companies operating in the country.

The closures followed raids on two other Afghan security companies last week – Watan and Caps. At the time, Afghan police said some private security firms were suspected of having carried out crimes including murder, kidnappings and robberies.

Police have said they were planning to close down more than a dozen security firms.

The Interior Ministry says 59 Afghan and international security companies are registered with the government, but a Western security official has told The Associated Press that as many as 25 other firms could be operating in the country.

The government is proposing new rules to tighten control over such firms, including some Western companies, amid concerns they intimidate Afghans, show disrespect to local security forces and don’t cooperate with authorities, according to a draft policy document obtained by the AP. The crackdown echoes efforts by authorities in Iraq to rein in private security contractors often accused of acting with impunity. Blackwater USA guards protecting a US Embassy convoy in Baghdad allegedly killed 17 civilians last month in an incident that enraged Iraqi leaders, who are demanding millions in compensation for victims’ families and the removal of Blackwater in six months.

That shooting focused attention on the regulation of private guards and added to the Bush administration’s problems in managing the Iraq war.