Seven private security companies dissolved in Afghanistan

KABUL: Seven private security companies operating in Afghanistan are being dissolved, the country's interior ministry announced Tuesday.

"Based on our commitment to transparency and the rule of law, the private security companies have been informed that they have been dissolved because of their connection to officials of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan," it said in a statement.

It added that a further 45 companies could continue their operations over the next year but "should resolve all their legal issues and violations of law within the next 90 days."

After 12 months, they will be replaced by an Afghan government force able to provide comparable security measures, the statement said.

The companies being dissolved include Watan Risk Management, NCL, SSSI and LSG, the statement said.

In August, Karzai ordered that all private security firms -- many of which are foreign-owned and provide guards for embassies, NGOs and businesses in violence-hit Afghanistan -- be banned.

But he later rowed back on this under pressure from his Western allies, who said the firms were necessary to provide adequate security in the country, whose own police and military are still being built up.

Karzai says that private security companies hold back the development of the Afghan police and accuses them of security violations.

Relations between Kabul and the West have been particularly strained recently over the issue of civilian casualties in international military operations.