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Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail More Yahoo! Services Account Options New User? Sign Up Sign In Help Yahoo! Search web search Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Weekend Edition Australia China India Indonesia Japan Malaysia Philippines Thailand Vietnam Afghanistan offers possible loophole for security firms AFP - Monday, October 25 Send IM Story Print Afghanistan offers possible loophole for security firms KABUL (AFP) - – Afghan President Hamid Karzai Sunday signalled his willingness to backtrack on a blanket ban on all private security firms, asking the foreign community for a list of projects needing protection. His order that all private security companies be disbanded by the end of the year has caused widespread concern that aid and development projects would be unable to continue without adequate protection in the war-torn country. The Afghan government had already partially rolled back the ban, allowing private protection to continue for diplomats and foreign military bases. Private security firms in Afghanistan are employed by US and NATO forces, the Pentagon, the United Nations, aid and non-governmental organisations, embassies and foreign media. They employ about 26,000 registered personnel, though experts say the real number could be as high as 40,000. Karzai has been under intense pressure to extend the January 1 deadline to enable foreign organisations to find an alternative, with many aid organisations and foreign companies prepared to leave the country otherwise. In a meeting with representatives of the foreign community -- including the UN's representative Staffan de Mistura, NATO's civilian representative Mark Sedwill and commander of foreign forces US General David Petraeus -- Karzai appears to have offered a compromise. While "underlining that the government of Afghanistan remained steadfast in its decision to dissolve private security contractors," it asked them to name projects in need of protection, a statement from his office said. "President Karzai expressed... gratitude for the development and reconstruction projects carried out by the international community and asked the foreign representatives to provide, if needed, the government with a list of the major projects that need protection and their security requirements so that the government can take appropriate measures accordingly," it said. "It was also agreed that further discussions be continued so reasonable solutions to the challenge can be sought (consistent with) the presidential decree Number 62 on the disbandment of the private security firms," it said. The statement comes after Washington on Friday called on Karzai's government to find a solution that would allow the transitional use of private security guards, in the hope that development projects would not be closed down. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said there was a "lack of clarity" on the decree. "We're hopeful that we can resolve with the Afghan government a course of action so that over time we can help with this transition from private security contractors to a situation where the responsibility for security in Afghanistan is done by the Afghan government," Crowley told reporters. "That's their objective. That's actually our objective," he said. The Washington Post reported Thursday that some US-funded firms, including those building roads and energy projects and helping farmers, had begun to close down as the deadline neared. Afghan security forces, especially the police, are regarded as corrupt and are not trusted to be able to provide adequate security. "We don't think it's had an impact at this time, and we certainly do not want to see development projects that are important to Afghanistan's future affected by this decree," Crowley said. Following the collapse of the Taliban regime in a US-led invasion in 2001, private security firms rushed in to fill a vacuum created by a lack of adequately trained police and army forces. In 2006 the Afghan authorities began registering, regulating and licensing the firms, and though the ban was widely welcomed in principle there have been questions about the activities of some companies. The Afghan government has already formally banned eight foreign private security firms, including Xe, the controversial company formerly called Blackwater. Executives with private security firms have refused to speak publicly about the ban, but have said that visas for some employees have been cancelled as part of the dissolution process. The United States and NATO have more than 150,000 troops in the country battling a spreading insurgency, with aid and development organisations coming under regular attack. On Saturday, the United Nations compound in the western city of Herat was attacked by insurgents wearing suicide vests and Afghan police uniforms, authorities said. 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