The U.S. relies heavily on security contractors for a range of important functions, from guarding supply convoys, key personnel, checkpoints and installations to helping protect media and non-governmental organizations. It is estimated that there are about 20,000 private guards working for the departments of Defense and State and the U.S. Agency for International Development. In March of this year, there were 16,733 private security contractors working for the Department of Defense alone, a dramatic increase from the count of 3,000 only 15 months earlier.

 

Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman told the media that Karzai’s timeline was “very aggressive,” but one that the Pentagon and the State Department would try to meet.

 

The loophole is that most of the contract guards are actually Afghan nationals, who could be rehired by the Afghan military or police, which would allow them to continue at their positions while the Karzai government collected contract fees.

 

Karzai claims that his army and police force will be able to assume control of all security functions by 2014.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

Removing All Private Security Firms from Afghanistan Could Be Difficult (by Robert Brodsky, Government Executive)

Contractor Support of U.S. Operations in the USCENTCOM Area of Responsibility, Iraq, and Afghanistan (Department of Defense)

Karzai Defends Contractor Phaseout (by Eric Schmitt, New York Times)

Karzai Family Inc. in Afghanistan (by David Wallechinsky and Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)