Feral Jundi

Friday, May 14, 2010

Industry Talk: Taliban Protection Payoffs Denied By Watan Risk Management

     Popal argues it would be impossible to pay off the patchwork of insurgent groups attacking the supply routes, since there’s no single commander.

     Watan Risk Management also has the highest casualty rate among private security firms, he notes, with an average of 50 deaths per month between May and October 2009.

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   You know, Mr. Popal has a point.  If his company is paying off the Taliban, then why were they losing so many people every month? This is not me picking a side or anything.  I am just saying that if in fact Watan Risk Management is using bribes to protect convoys, then they should get their money back because they are getting a raw deal.

    I would also be curious to hear how many of those deaths were do to just the hazards of driving hours and hours on poor roads with horrible driving conditions, on top of attacks by the enemy? You know the saying ‘lies, damn lies, and statistics….’. It is still a sacrifice, but in this discussion it is important to differentiate because the Taliban has nothing to do with those deaths.

   The other point to make is that maybe they would have lost twice that many folks if they didn’t pay off those they could deal with?  Who knows, but I figured I would post Watan’s side of the story. Rest in peace to the fallen contractors of this company who paid the ultimate sacrifice while delivering this essential cargo for the war effort. –Matt

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Ahmad Rateb Popal

Ahmad Rateb Popal. (CBC)

Taliban protection payoffs denied by contractor

April 27, 2010

Allegations that a private security firm has been bribing Taliban and other insurgents to ensure safe passage for NATO convoys in Afghanistan are being denied by a key player in the business.

Allegations that a private security firm has been bribing Taliban and other insurgents to ensure safe passage for NATO convoys in Afghanistan are being denied by a key player in the business.

Kabul-based Watan Risk Management was among the private companies fingered in recent media reports alleging that the firms are paying off insurgents to protect supply routes, essentially funnelling international funds to the very groups troops are fighting against.

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Friday, November 13, 2009

Afghanistan: How the U.S. Army Protects It’s Trucks–By Paying the Taliban

   First off, bravo to the boys at Four Horseman International for at least taking a stand and not playing the ‘pay-off’s’ game, and fighting your way through the roads. As for NCL Holdings? Pffft.

   One suggestion for the DoD is to use these convoys as opportunities to bring out the enemy and kill him. That, and give the convoys some fire power to deal with the threat. It should be costly for the enemy to attack these convoys.

   We should also be using the pay off scheme to track where the money is going, and then kill the source that way.  Where is the return on investment, when we just hand over money to the enemy for so-called protection services? Either way, there is no way in hell we should be paying off the Taliban or warlords in order to pass through those roads.  The only thing we should be giving the Taliban for passage on those roads, is hot lead.  That is my take on it. –Matt

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How the US army protects its trucks – by paying the Taliban

Insurance, security or extortion? The US is spending millions of dollars in Afghanistan to ensure its supply convoys get through – and it’s the Taliban who profit

Aram Rostom

Friday 13 November 2009

On 29 October 2001, while the Taliban’s rule over Afghanistan was under assault, the regime’s ambassador in Islamabad in neighbouring Pakistan gave a chaotic press conference in front of several dozen reporters sitting on the grass. On the Taliban diplomat’s right sat his interpreter, Ahmad Rateb Popal, a man with an imposing presence. Like the ambassador, Popal wore a black turban, and he had a huge bushy beard. He had a black patch over his right eye socket, a prosthetic left arm and a deformed right hand, the result of injuries from an explosives mishap during an old operation against the Soviets in Kabul.

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