Afghanistan to Disband Crucial Guard Force

The Afghan Ministry of Interior said in a statement that Kabul would disband the Afghan Public Protection Force.

While APPF is a government enterprise, its services are paid for commercially by the clients, such as the US Agency for International Development. It replaced a host of private security contractors, the Wall Street Journal wrote on Wednesday.

Top Afghan officials recently issued a directive that would disband the force and fold it into the Ministry of Interior. But the US and coalition officials say it is unclear how, exactly, the Afghan government plans to implement this new order-—and who will take over the job of protecting internationally funded reconstruction projects.

Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Interior, said the Afghan National Police would take over some of the functions of the guard force.

"The Cabinet Council had decided to dissolve the state-run enterprise," Sediqqi said. "It is dissolved, so the APPF will remain within the scope and mandate of ANP to provide security."

"Salaries will be paid by the Afghan government," added Mr. Sediqqi.

The Afghan Ministry of Interior said in its statement that Afghan officials would discuss the situation with international organizations "in order to find an acceptable solution for both sides" while the decision is implemented.

The move, however, presents a dilemma for the US military and aid organizations that work for the US government and its allies. At issue is a 17,000-strong force that is supposed to guard the gates of US military bases and foreign installations and provide armed escorts for fuel convoys plying the country's dangerous roads.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai created the force as part of a plan for the Afghan government to exercise more control over the lucrative private security business in the country and rein in Afghan-run security companies, small private armies that were often deeply unpopular here.

Under a 2010 decree, the government phased out private security firms, but the change didn't sit easily with the US and international aid providers and other clients. According to a 2012 audit by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, the shift "increased the uncertainty over security" for US-funded projects and increased the cost of guarding them.

Clients of the force have long complained of poor management by the Afghan government company. Some clients say they are paying their guards directly because they haven't receiving their salaries from the APPF.