National Security

Good Help Is Hard to Find: Afghan Version

By Mark Thompson | @MarkThompson_DC | October 8, 2010 | +

Not only are we hiring too many contractors in Afghanistan — we’re also hiring the wrong ones. A year-long probe into the hiring practices of Afghan private contractors released Thursday has found that some had hired lackeys loyal to warlords involved in kidnapping, murder and the Taliban. “There is significant evidence that some security contractors…worked against our coalition forces, creating the very threat they are hired to combat,” said Sen. Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat who chairs the panel. “These contractors threaten the security of our troops and risk the success of our mission.”

 

An Afghan at a guard outpost/DoD

 

The likelihood that bad actors are among the 26,000 security contractors employed in Afghanistan — many of them native Afghans — has always been suspected. That’s because across much of the country, most able-bodied men are allied with their local warlord or his rival. Those hired provide security for the U.S. bases sprinkled across the country, as well as helping to escort supply convoys.

At the Shindand air base in western Afghanistan, ArmorGroup North America tapped competing warlords to supply the manpower needed to guard the post. (“In order to be fair to both factions,” ArmorGroup “employed a total of 44 local national armed guards on the base, 22 from each faction,” a company executive noted at the time.) The guards and their warlords were allegedly involved in murder, attacks and bribery while on the U.S. payroll.

One of the warlords hosted a 2008 Taliban gathering raided by the U.S. military and its Afghan allies. “A post-raid U.S. Army investigation found that some of the anti-coalition militia `may have been security contractors or subcontractors for ArmorGroup’,” the report said.  In fact, eight personnel on the ArmorGroup payroll “were killed in the operation. In addition, a search of the raid site revealed `extensive stores of weapons, explosives, [and] intelligence materials.’” President Hamid Karzai complained about the attack. President George W. Bush called him to apologize.

And these are the folks on our side.

Related Topics: levin, National Security

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  • Alex Vallas

    Our original intent was to eliminate al-Quida which was using Afghanistan as their home base. They have since moved to all corners of the earth with major concentrations in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia. Some are located right here in the US.
    I am at a loss to figure out why we are fighting the Taliban. They are a bunch of ruthless terrorist (and that is using a mild definition) but are they our problem? The country, if you can call it that, is an area with no central government authority. The area is ruled by warlords (druglords). In addition to the loss of American lives, the war is a drain on our economy. In my opinion, we will never win in the traditional sense nor will we ever change their mentality and horrendous dispictable actions against women. So lets just get out.
    With respect to al-Quida — all European and Arab countries should work together to eliminate these terrorists. The US should not bear the major burden with token help from a few allies. Virtually all of Europe and the Middle East are affected by their horrendous actions.

  • michaelfury

    “And these are the folks on our side”

    On the inside.

    http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2010/10/06/were-not-safe/

  • http://patricksartor.wordpress.com patricksartor

    I Vietnam War Veteran I worked with once told me about how, when he was in a support unit (forgive my lack of military terminology – I mean something other than infantry or cavalry designated for combat, his group was assigned to weapons repair, not combat per se) among many Vietnamese contractors who did work on the base, the Vietnamese barber showed up one day and started shooting every American he could shoot until he was killed.

    I believe most wars, particularly Guerrilla Warfare, involves this as constant problem.

    I am not very surprised that this happens sometimes, but have no idea what can be done to prevent this since you can’t, say, check people for criminal records or find out if they, say, were registered Taliban the way we register for political parties.

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