Canadian Private Security Companies Have Wreaked Havoc in Afghanistan
In the record of the disastrous war in Afghanistan, little attention has been paid to the horrific role of Canada’s private security firms.
Defense contractors train in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, 2013. (DVIDSHUB/Flickr)
Last month, the CBC’s Judy Trinh filed a story about ex–special forces David Lavery’s efforts to get dozens of people out of Kabul before the Taliban takeover. A founding member of Joint Task Force 2, an elite branch of Canada’s armed forces primarily tasked with counterterrorism, Lavery coordinated with veterans to help over a hundred individuals with Canadian papers flee the South Central Asian nation.
The story reads like a made-for-TV action movie. Beneath the confected heroics lies a far more troubling narrative about the Wild West of private-security profiteering. This is a story that Canada’s mainstream media refuses to give the light of day.
Private Security, Public Money
Throughout the disastrous twenty-year-long war in Afghanistan, Canada has been heavily reliant on private security companies (PSCs) to aid the war effort. Despite the prevalence of PSCs in the North American nation’s operations in Afghanistan, their presence has garnered barely any media attention. Canadians are largely ignorant of this controversial element of the foreign occupation.
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