Rafiullah Khan
On 18 October 2018, during an attack in Afghanistan, Kandahar’s Governor ,General Abdul Raziq (Police Chief) , Provincial Chief of Afghan intelligence Agency (NDS), along with three US intelligence Agency (CIA) operatives got killed. It was revealed that an intelligence setup was established inside the Afghan Governor House to maintain optimum secrecy and deception. It was a joint venture of NDS, RAW and CIA (two companies of Black Water were also imparting training to Afghan youth). Resultantly, they were launching militants to Pakistan under the cover name of “Triple Eight Brigade”. Reportedly, General Abdul Raziq was not only involved in terrorist activities inside Pakistan but was also scandalous for atrocious and criminal killings of innocent Afghanis. The mentioned setup was mainly under the control of spy masters of NDS, RAW and CIA with the help of Black Water terrorists. The assassination of all high level individuals is sufficient enough to gauge that the Governor House was being used for nefarious state sponsored terrorism. Experts attribute that even these agencies are not at one page and convincingly the deteriorating situation of Afghanistan is the manifestation of these divergent thinking and applied approaches. This situation is dragging the Afghan peace chariot in opposite direction of peace and stability. The incident also indicated that the Black Water is still working in Afghanistan and innocent Afghans as well as Afghan have been made fools by their captor. There was a lot of resentment over the deployment of Black Water operatives in Afghanistan and even there were the whispers of sub letting the Afghan war to the notorious security company.
In this context ,it is important to examine the reactions of different Afghan officials and political segments over the so called intervention of Black water. Recently, the members of Afghan Senate opposed the handing over of the Afghan war to the notorious US private security company , saying that the war privatization would not be a resolve for Afghan problems, but would create more problems and new crisis. The US war in Afghanistan is intensifying day after day, and the US government plans to give the war to the notorious private company of Black Water. The senators argued that handing the war fate to Black Water would change Afghanistan to another Syria and Iraq and war would continue for another half century. They also urged that the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) signed between the governments of Afghanistan and the United States did not have any article regarding the privatization of the war and handing it to the Black Water.
In reaction to the possibility of privatizing the Afghan war, President Ashraf Ghani has also strongly stated that he would not allow “foreign mercenaries” to operate in Afghanistan. Addressing the 3rd Mayors National Conference, the Afghan President claimed that the Afghan government forces have enough potential and have managed to save the country from “collapse”. He also claimed that “ the work which is done by Afghans cannot be done by any foreign mercenary and foreign mercenaries will never be allowed in this soil”. Ghani’s remarks came days after Erik Prince, the founder of Black Water security company, in an interview with afghan media , insisted the Afghan war will end “a few months” using his plan to send in few thousand contracted mentors to Afghanistan. According to Prince, 3,600 “contracted veteran mentors” from Black Water would be deployed to Afghanistan , 36 for each Afghan unit and for two to four years at a time. This is not the first time that Prince has called for the use of contractors in Afghanistan. His mission turned controversial in Iraq as contractors working for Black Water were accused of killing over 10 Iraqi civilians in 2007. In an interview with the UK’s Independent this year, Prince essentially proposed the privatization of the war. However, the Independent said he would prefer to call it “rationalizing and restructuring”. Afghanistan’s Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah’s office also said that the plan is not applicable in the country. The Afghan parliament, the Wolesi Jirga, also reacted to the so called plan to privatize the Afghan war, saying it is not in Afghanistan’s favor. “The question is that how a private company would be able to ensure security in Afghanistan? This is certainly concerning,” said Rauf Ibrahimi, the Wolesi Jirga Speaker. Even the US official , Defense Secretary James Mattis reacted to the plan of privatizing the war in Afghanistan, by saying that “it is probably not a wise idea”. “When Americans put their nation’s credibility on the line, privatizing it is probably not a wise idea,”. Experts believe that its a matter of great concern that when all the influential and responsible segments of Afghan as well as the US officials are not convinced over the said involvement of Black water ( presently operating with some other name ) in Afghanistan, then who are the real stakeholders of employing the notorious company. Besides, what are the benefits attached to any such plan.
