A host of
multi-year health, agriculture, infrastructure and energy projects, worth a
total of $6 billion, have been approved by the US Agency for International
Development (USAID) and are ready to begin, but have been on hold since
November, a senior USAID official said.
"No
new development projects can get underway because they can't contract
security," the official said. "We have expressed concern to the
Afghan government that this is a wasted opportunity."
Heavily
armed, highly paid private guards hired to keep diplomats, aid workers and UN
officials safe have become a common sight in Afghanistan since the Taliban were
toppled by US-backed Afghan forces in 2001.
But some
of the guards' heavy-handed tactics on the streets, and some of their private
behavior, have earned the ire of deeply conservative Afghans, including
President Hamid Karzai.
Karzai worried
Westerners in Kabul last year when he decreed the firms would be banned, with
exceptions for embassies, military bases and diplomats.
After
security firms finish existing contracts, aid groups and other organisations
will be forced to rely on a new Interior Ministry force for protection.
It has
added tension to Karzai's stormy ties with Western backers, whose troops will
begin a gradual withdrawal this year.
Another Western
official said Karzai, politically vulnerable in a country rife with warlords
backed by private militias, was motivated by fear.
"The
problem isn't the Brits and Aussies running around; it's the Afghans. Karzai
sees these firms as another militia," said the Western official, speaking
on condition of anonymity in interviews conducted in the past few days.
"There
are many more Afghans employed by (such firms) and, given Afghanistan's long
history with armed groups outside formal government control, this is a
sensitive issue."
As
Western officials worry the new Interior Ministry force cannot be made ready in
time, the government is considering short-term options for providing security.
But for now, Western officials are struggling to predict Karzai's next move.
Even when
the new Afghan protection force does emerge, it is unlikely to inspire
confidence among Westerners, given Afghan forces' reputation for being
ill-trained and ill-equipped.
Adding to
such concerns are a series of “rogue” attacks by Afghans on foreign trainers.
Last month, an Italian soldier was shot dead at a base in western Afghanistan
by an Afghan soldier.
“I hope
they find a bridging solution so companies that haven't violated the law and
are registered will be able to work until the (new force) is up and running,”
the USAID official said.
Many aid
groups still operate without armed guards but bigger USAID contractors, many of
them for-profit organizations, believe they can go without security even though
attacks on foreigners have soared despite military claims they are turning back
a tenacious Taliban insurgency.
Attacks
on organizations working for USAID increased seven-fold in 2010 from the
previous year, from an average of 8 per month to 55 a month, the USAID official
said.
US forces
accidentally killed a British woman who headed a USAID agriculture project in
eastern Afghanistan last year when they were trying to rescue her from militant
kidnappers.
The
holdup could also affect future USAID funding because Congress will likely
allocate USAID less next year if money is unspent from this year's budget.
"What
we have to do is work with the Afghans to reduce reliance on (security firms)
but do so in a way that does not jeopardize critical stability and development
projects. I think we'll get there," the Western official said.
