Canada's hired guns in Afghanistan rejected by U.S. for unsavoury tiesMurray Brewster, The Canadian Press: Canada spent more than $41-million on hired guns in Afghanistan, much of it going to security companies slammed by the U.S. Senate for having warlords on the payroll. Both the Defence and Foreign Affairs departments have employed 11 security contractors in Kabul and Kandahar since 2006, but have kept quiet about the details...
All of the contracting happened even though the federal government has no overall policy or legislation to govern the use of hired guns -- unlike other countries, notably the United States, which has imposed strict accountability guidelines on its contractors. Even with those rules, the American system was found lacking by U.S. senators, who heard complaints from NATO that there was 'little awareness of money flow' and that some of the contracts were 'enriching powerbrokers, undercutting counterinsurgency efforts and delegitimizing the Afghan government.'...
A defence expert, who has written extensively on the use of hired guns in war zones, said they are a fact of life in the age of all-volunteer armies. The contractors, usually ex-soldiers, are most often used in a defensive manner, taking up guard duties that free combat troops, said researcher Dave Perry in Ottawa...
In conflict zones, 'I think it would be hard to find somebody who could provide credible security force that did not have something in their past that somebody could point to and say that they've done something inappropriate,' said Mr. Perry... There are an estimated 40,000 armed security contractors operating in Afghanistan.
