Little is talked about the sacrifices that local national private security forces have made. These would be classified as local security folk who often help out local businesses operate in these war environments. I witnessed the same thing in Iraq. They are paid less, and their equipment and resources are minimal. But by local standards, it’s not a bad gig. 300 Dollars a month is probable more than what most locals make per month, and guys line up for these jobs because there is nothing else out there. But you also get what you pay for.
The Taliban know that these convoys are easy pickings as well, hence the reason why the continue to attack them. The one thing I picked up on in this article was the idea that ISAF forces, were not coming to the aid of these companies. It’s nice to know that the Canadians have been helping these guys out when they can. But really, ISAF needs to make it more of a priority to help out these guys. It goes back to winning hearts and minds. These guys are contract security, but they are also the local population. If we make it a point to help them out when they need some assistance, then maybe–just maybe, they might be a little bit more inclined to continue working for the good guys, as opposed to flipping sides. Or worse yet, selling their issued guns and ammo to the other side.(I saw this practice in action in Iraq, and you can blame low pay, mixed loyalties, and poor leadership on that one)
Either way, these men are brothers in arms, and the deserve our respect. An army cannot fight without the supplies provided by these convoys, and these men are very crucial to that process. Even if these guys are not directly protecting Coalition assets, they are still a group that should be recognized as important. We should also be reaching out to these guys and coordinating a little more so accidents do not happen in the future. Or better yet, winning over some of these guys with guns, so they don’t run over to the Taliban. –Head Jundi
Private security guards oversee the departure of a 250-truck NATO supply convoy from Kandahar to Kabul this week. Only some of the security guards wear uniforms and flak vests and none have helmets.
Photograph by : Tom Blackwell/National Post
Private security a necessity in Kandahar province
Tom Blackwell
Canwest News Service
Saturday, October 18, 2008
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – As he girded himself for another shift protecting a massive NATO supply convoy this week, Rozi Mohammed made a frank admission: the work terrifies him.
“We are afraid of IEDs, we’re afraid of rockets, we’re afraid of bullets, we’re afraid of ambushes,” said the boyish-looking 18-year-old, an AK-47 slung over his narrow shoulders. “Every moment is frightening.”
He has good reason to be fearful. About 160 of Mohammed’s colleagues have been killed defending such convoys against almost daily Taliban attacks just this year. Only the day before, two died in a roadside bomb blast.
In his compound, a stack of empty coffins sits ready for the next victims.
“Every day we have seen our men wounded and killed,” the teenager said.
Mohammed does not belong to any military or police organization. He is part of Afghanistan’s growing private army: security contractors who fill the gaps in the foreign military and development mission here, protecting diplomats, aid workers, outposts and the all-important convoys.
To satisfy the voracious appetite of thousands of NATO troops for food, fuel and other supplies, hundreds of trucks a week must traverse highways that more and more are rife with insurgents. Afghans, often unable to make a decent living any other way, are paying a hefty price to try to ensure the goods arrive intact, regularly living out scenes straight out of a Mad Max movie.
“Since I took this job four or five years ago, I have lost 500 men,” said Mohammed Salim, a leader with Rozi Mohammed’s employer, Commando Security.
The legions of untrained, largely unregulated hired guns also have been accused of adding to the country’s lawlessness, an issue that recently hit home for Canada. Before a partial government crackdown a year or so ago, private soldiers were often involved in kidnappings and robberies, said a Kandahar-based security expert with an international agency.
This August, a detail of guards with a logistics convoy started shooting wildly when they came under Taliban fire west of Kandahar city, and a Canadian soldier on patrol in between was killed.
The Canadian Forces, which hires private security to guard some of its own bases, later cleared the contractors of any blame in the death, saying the fatal shot was from the Taliban. Private guards are a necessity of life here, a spokesman says.
“We do consider them to be part of the environment we operate in,” said Maj. Jay Janzen, a Forces spokesman. “They do provide an important contribution to the mission.”
But Ruhullah Khan, a senior manager of Commando Security who was present during the August incident, said he remains unsure of who shot whom. It was members of another firm also protecting the convoy who were firing, he maintained.
“The (other) security guards were strange. The Taliban shoot once and they shoot frequently, many, many times toward the Taliban,” said Khan. “I still don’t know whether shooting by the Taliban or the security guards killed the Canadian soldier.”
The other company, called Compass Security, could not be reached for comment.
Janzen said the foreign forces would be unable to function without the help of private troops, noting that Canada employs them to handle perimeter security at some of its bases.
As “partners in the mission,” they free up Canadian Forces personnel to perform their more specialized jobs, he said.
The Foreign Affairs Department also hires a security company to patrol outside its embassy in Kabul, but does not use private bodyguards, said a department spokesman.
The local security expert, who asked not to be named, said only a small handful of companies are properly licensed by the Afghan government, despite the crackdown, and regulation is minimal.
Mohammed smiles when asked if he has received any combat instruction. “We don’t have any special training,” he said. “We just sit in our vehicles and whenever something happens, we fight.”
Compensation, though, can be fairly generous. Commando Security is paid $500 to $800 per truck in a convoy, while individual guards earn about $300 a month, triple what Afghan National Police are paid.
One day this week, Commando was shadowing a chain of 250 trucks, hauling everything from blast barriers for NATO bases to fuel and camouflage-painted military machinery. The goods mostly came from seaports in Pakistan and were headed for Bagram Air Base north of Kabul. Similar convoys carry goods out to Canadian and other bases in the south, and from the country’s northern border to more southern destinations.
Semi-trailer after semi-trailer streamed up the highway from Kandahar as the convoy got under way, a fog of dust enveloping everything.
Canadian soldiers venture outside their bases only in armoured vehicles, though they are no guarantee of safety against roadside bombs. Commando Security’s 200 men, on the other hand, were crammed into about 80 battered Toyota SUVs or, in some cases, Corolla sedans. Only some wore uniforms and flak vests and none had helmets.
When they attack, the insurgents typically set off an IED, then spring an ambush, said Salim.
If Canadian troops are already on the road nearby during an assault, they will come to the contractors’ aid, something American and other NATO soldiers refuse to do, said Khan. Even if they do not fight with them, the Canadians will tend to Commando casualties.
It is welcome help. Attacks often last three or four hours and have claimed as many as 20 of the firm’s guards at a time.
“During the last 10 days,” said Salim, “there was not one day we did not fight.”
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