Trigger-happy security complicates convoys

[unhappycamper]

Three Afghan security contractors work in Maywand district, Kandahar, Afghanistan. Some contractors’ out-of-control actions are frustrating U.S. military leaders.


Trigger-happy security complicates convoys
By Sean D. Naylor - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Nov 30, 2009 5:41:59 EST

HUTAL, Afghanistan — Ill-disciplined private security guards escorting supply convoys to coalition bases are wreaking havoc as they pass through western Kandahar province, undermining the coalition’s counterinsurgency strategy here and leading to at least one confrontation with U.S. forces, say U.S. Army officers and Afghan government officials.

The security guards are responsible for killing and wounding more than 30 innocent civilians during the past four years in Maywand district alone, said Mohammad Zareef, the senior representative in the district for Afghanistan’s intelligence service, the National Directorate of Security.

Highway 1, the country’s main east-west artery, runs through Maywand and is the route taken by logistics convoys moving west from Kabul and Kandahar to coalition bases in Helmand province. The Afghan government’s district chief for Maywand says the men hired to protect the convoys are heroin addicts armed with rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles.

The contractors’ actions are frustrating U.S. military leaders in Maywand and undermining coalition efforts to bring a greater sense of security to the Afghan people, particularly because the locals associate the contractors with the coalition.

“They’ll start firing at anything that’s moving, and they will injure or kill innocent Afghans, and they’ll destroy property,” said Lt. Col. Jeff French, commander of 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment and Task Force Legion, the main coalition force in Maywand since mid-September. French has vowed to take tough action against contractors involved in violent acts against civilians.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/11/army_convoy_security_112909w/

[Fumesucker]

1. I don't recall hearing of private security for supply convoys in WWII..

The Red Ball Express comes to mind.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Ball_Express



This whole privatizing the battlefield thing is inordinately stupid and I seriously doubt it's saving any money in the long run.