Private security firms paid £29m last year for contracts in Afghanistan | Politics | The Observer

• Mark Townsend

  Sunday 6 March 2011

• Article history

 

Senator Carl Levin briefs the US media on the inquiry by the Senate armed services committee into the role and oversight of private security contractors in Afghanistan. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images

A record £29m worth of contracts were awarded last year to British private security firms in Afghanistan, fuelling fears over the increasing privatisation of the UK's military capability.

New figures, released under the Freedom of Information Act, confirm that a growing reliance on private firms is underpinning Britain's war effort. They come as the private security industry regulator reveals it is being encouraged by the government to take a "more extended" role in supporting military operations.

Andy Bearpark, director general of the British Association of Private Security Companies (BAPSC), will meet Foreign Office officials this Wednesday to discuss a closer relationship with Whitehall. He said: "The point is that the British government has just about finalised its position on private security, this will legitimise companies working with the government."

The £29m spent last year in Afghanistan represents a significant increase compared to the £62.8m spent on security contractors between 2007 and 2009. Most contracts were awarded to G4S, with £23.3m designated to provide "mobile and static security" in Afghanistan. The company is the parent firm of ArmorGroup, the focus of a US Senate inquiry alleging it "relied on a series of warlords to provide armed men" engaged in murder and bribery.

The government has opted in favour of self-regulation, but the senior campaigns officer for War on Want, Yasmin Khan, said: "As the government is plunged deeper into the conflict in Afghanistan, national regulation is urgently needed to hold British mercenary companies to account."

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "Private military security companies play a vital and necessary role in hostile environments."