Extension gives private security firms in Afghanistan some breathing room

State Department officials expressed relief after private security companies guarding billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded development projects in Afghanistan obtained a reprieve on Wednesday that will allow them to continue operating temporarily in the country.

Faced with fierce diplomatic pressure from U.S. and other coalition leaders who feared a looming shutdown of major reconstruction projects, Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced he would extend his deadline for private security firms to close up shop.

"We are encouraged by what President Karzai and his government have advanced today," said State Department spokesman PJ Crowley on Wednesday. "It provides a process through which we can work with the Afghan government and the international community to fully implement the Afghan government's decree."

Officials insist they support the goal of removing all PSCs from Afghanistan, but they said Karzai's timetable was too ambitious and would disrupt ongoing development and reconstruction projects. Without protection from private security, U.S.-based development firms had indicated they would have to suspend their work within the next few weeks.

The decision was a shift for Karzai, who earlier this week publicly rejected the idea of a deadline extension. Instead, he asked foreign officials to provide his office with a list of projects that needed protection.

In August, Karzai surprised many in the international community when he issued an order to remove all private security contractors -- with the exception of those working at foreign embassies and military bases -- from Afghanistan by Dec. 17, citing incidents of violence and questionable behavior by foreign guards. Instead, protection would be provided by Afghanistan's police and security forces, which critics have described as poorly trained and corrupt.

After a meeting last week with Gen. David Petraeus, head of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, and receiving a phone call from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Karzai apparently had a change of heart.

In a statement, Karzai said he would establish a committee -- led by Afghanistan's minister of the Interior, and including U.S. and other Western officials -- that would develop a plan to disband private security firms.

"The phasing out of illegal PSCs and road convoy security companies continues on a priority basis as laid out in the decree," the statement said. "Recognizing the importance of maintaining the continuous delivery of critical development projects and programs funded by the international community, the committee will prepare a timetable for the disbandment of the PSCs that secure development projects and submit it to the president on Nov. 15."

Once the timetable is approved, private security contractors will have a maximum of 90 days to shut down.

The United States already has agreed to allow the Afghan National Security Forces to assume protection of military convoys traveling across the country.