KABUL: The Afghan government is standing firm on its plan to disband all private security firms despite widespread concerns that the four-month deadline is too tight and could ultimately be self-defeating.

President Hamid Karzai`s decree, issued on Tuesday, ordered the 52 private security contractors operating in the country, both Afghan and international, to cease operations by January 1, 2011.

Deputy interior minister General Moneer Mangal sought on Wednesday to allay doubts that Afghanistan`s own security forces were capable of stepping into the breach amid a Taliban-led insurgency dragging towards its 10th year.

"I`m not saying that it`s not difficult but we must overcome this. We`ll do all we can to implement this plan," he told reporters.

The contractors would be replaced by Afghan police and army, he said.

The move aims "to better provide security for the lives and property of citizens, fight corruption, prevent irregularities and the misuse of arms, military uniforms and equipment by private security companies," the decree said.

It would also prevent "heart-breaking and tragic incidents," it said, an apparent reference to some occasions which have seen Afghan civilians allegedly killed or injured by private security contractors.

Two ex-employees of a security firm owned by the company formerly known as Blackwater entered not guilty pleas in a US court on Tuesday to charges of killing two Afghans in Kabul in May 2009.

A traffic accident in Kabul in late July involving a security firm, in which several Afghans died, led to a small riot in which the contractor`s armoured vehicles were set ablaze.

Private security firms in Afghanistan are employed by US and NATO forces, the Pentagon, the UN mission, aid and non-governmental organisations, embassies and Western media.

The tenor of the decree was largely welcomed as the presence of tens of thousands of armed private guards is seen as potentially undermining government authority.

Afghans criticise them as overbearing and abusive, particularly on the country`s roads, and Karzai has complained they duplicate the work of the Afghan security forces, and divert much-needed resources.

But the deadline and a lack of trained government forces has led to fears of a potential security crisis, with international organisations vulnerable and reconstruction projects and aid deliveries delayed.

"What we`d see inevitably would be a slowing down of that (humanitarian) work so the real effect would be seen by the people we most want to help," Andy Bearpark, director general of the British Association of Private Security Companies, told the BBC.

Washington described the timetable as "aggressive," and while US Senator John Kerry said Karzai was "right on target in wanting to minimise private security presence in his country," he also questioned the deadline.

Around 26,000 registered armed personnel are employed across Afghanistan by the firms, roughly half of which are Afghan, authorities say, though a former deputy interior minister said there could be as many as 50,000.

General Abdul Hadi Khaled said the Afghan police force would not be ready to take on the security firms` responsibilities for two or three years.

"The timetable set for disbandment of the security companies is insufficient," he told AFP.

"The interior ministry does not have enough training centres to train police for the security of NATO convoys and big businesses. Thinking the police will be able to take the job of private security companies in four months is no more than a dream," he said.

The decree has also raised questions about Karzai`s motivation, with Kate Clark of the Afghan Analysts Network noting the president`s links to the security sector.

As large Afghan security firms "are usually directly linked into the elite," she told BBC radio it was difficult to believe the directive would be honoured.

"You`ve got firms connected to the son of the defence minister, various cousins of the president, and then you`ve got this plethora of very small-scale companies" whose ownership was difficult to determine.

"The contracts for these security companies are very lucrative. We have strong evidence that Taliban are being paid off, that senior members of the government and police, some of them at least, are demanding payments.

"You have to think of a situation where there are many people with their fingers in the pie... and so I find it difficult to imagine this pie being taken away," she said.

BDST: 08:29 HRS, August 19, 2010