It’s interesting to hear what the salaries are for local nationals in Afghanistan. The Iraq local national security companies pay almost the same amount to their guards. –Head Jundi
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Military relying on Afghan contractors for security
JESSICA LEEDER
From Wednesday’s Globe and Mail
October 28, 2008
ARGHANDAB DISTRICT, Afghanistan — To an untrained observer, it might seem odd that nearly 50 Afghans have been given free rein to gallivant around a foreign military outpost in their dusty Toyota 4Runners, armed with Kalashnikovs.
They shout at each other in Dari, a Persian dialect spoken in northern and western Afghanistan that is unintelligible to most Canadian soldiers and their hired Pashto interpreters here in the south.
Around the clock they churn up gravel as they dart between lookout towers along the base perimeter. As they blew by one of the senior officers on base the other day, leaving him shrouded in dust, Sergeant Major Shawn Mercer let a wide grin cross his face.
“They’re fast, like light,” he said.
Head of Afghan delegation Abdullah Abdullah, left, speaks as his Pakistani counterpart Owais Ahmed Ghani looks on during their joint press conference at the end of two-day Pakistan-Afghanistan Tribal Elders Jirga meeting in Islamabad, They’re paid to be. Increasingly, Afghan nationals employed by private security contractors are being relied on by international forces here for an integral defensive task: keeping 24-hour perimeter watches to block the Taliban from entering or attacking military bases. While private security firms have long been used by foreigners working in the capital Kabul, military use of the firms’ fighters has recently become more widespread.
The Canadian military, which has 2,000 to 3,000 soldiers across southern Afghanistan, employs five of these contractors. All have been accredited by the Afghan government after a crackdown last year on a host of suspicious security firms.
“The use of security firms allows for the freeing up of Canadian Forces personnel so these highly trained forces can be tasked with those duties that will best advance the mission in Afghanistan,” said Captain Sonia Connock, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Forces in Kandahar.
One of the firms, called Tundra – which has some Canadian ownership, Capt. Connock said – employs the contingent of security officers stationed at this outpost in Arghandab district. Most were deemed qualified because they have spent their life at war, workers said.
“They were all fighters,” said Said Hasib, 23, a Kabul native who as one of the few English speakers in the group acts as a spokesman. “They see war when they open their eyes.”
By that, he meant most of Tundra’s employees – their ages range from about 20 to 45 – have never lived during peaceful times.
“They are fighting their whole life. They are not afraid of anything,” Mr. Hasib explained, noting that if his colleagues were not fighting Russians or corrupt warlords, they were battling the Taliban. Some, he said, are former soldiers of the recently formed Afghan National Army, which is being trained in stages by the international forces. The ANA is a favourite target of the Taliban, particularly in the volatile south. The men who left the army to join Tundra did so because soldiering was too dangerous for the meagre pay, Mr. Hasib said.
While there is less action in the security job – employees are not used for offensives – at Tundra, most of the fighters can make between $300 and $500 (U.S.) a month.
That doesn’t seem like much to cement the loyalty of men on whom Canadian soldiers are depending for their safety. But Sgt. Major Mercer said he is reassured by the fact that the crew hails mainly from the northern part of the province, outside the Pashtun belt where the Taliban have their roots and where many residents have links to them (although that does not mean they automatically support the insurgents). This drastically reduces the likelihood of a Tundra employee being swayed by the Taliban, Sgt. Major Mercer said.
It does not mean, however, that they’ve escaped being targeted.
“The Taliban would kill us faster than they would kill [foreigners],” said Musa, a 21-year-old from Kabul. “If any [insurgent] caught us, if he asked from us where we are going … they would slaughter us.”
That is largely why most Tundra employees are travelling home to visit their families less frequently. Flights are too expensive, said Rahmat Khan, a 34-year-old supervisor who sends his paycheques to his wife and four children. And for a Dari speaker to travel the dangerous road from Kandahar to Kabul is to gamble with death.
Despite this, the employees said they’re happy to make sacrifices to do the job.
“We feel good about Canada. It is a peaceful country,” said Mr. Hasib, adding he has gleaned his impressions of the country from reading Canadian magazines. From them, he said, he senses a multicultural parallel between Afghanistan, which draws people from across the region, and Canada.
“It’s a team over here where there is an attack. We are saving Canadians.”
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