How to make a killing in Kabul: Western security and a crisis in Afghanistan

unhappycamper

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Sun Feb-27-11 08:34 AM
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How to make a killing in Kabul: Western security and a crisis in Afghanistan

A security guard keeps his gun at the ready in Kabul, Afghanistan. Private security contractors are paid vast sums of money to guard aid projects and foreign embassies, but the military are often called to save them

A security guard forces a driver to move at gunpoint

President Karzai has called for a ban on foreign security firms in Afghanistan. There are still around 60 foreign-owned private security companies operating today

How to make a killing in Kabul: Western security and a crisis in Afghanistan
By Nadene Ghouri
Last updated at 10:00 PM on 26th February 2011

The mobile phone video footage of the attack is grainy and shaky, but the events are clear. A convoy of vehicles � trucks carrying Nato supplies, and four-wheel-drives carrying the armed Afghan and foreign guards who are supposed to protect the trucks � suddenly comes under attack from the Taliban.

A shockwave from a roadside bomb hits the lead vehicle like a huge slap in the face. The driver of the second lorry swerves around the smoking bomb crater. Two more lorries follow close behind. This is the golden rule in a convoy attack: don�t stop.

Behind the last lorry, a four-wheel drive turns off the side of the road to help the stricken vehicle. One of the guards, an Afghan, is hit by a bullet. He screams as his friends drag him behind a wall for cover.

Two of the Westerners jump out and take up position behind the bonnet of the car. One of them shouts into his radio: �Mayday mayday mayday�. Back at headquarters, the nearest military base is alerted: the convoy needs help.

Pointing their assault rifles towards a collection of mud houses, the guards return fire and hold off the assailants until the military arrive with helicopters to evacuate them.

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