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Written by NotOverYet
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Sunday, 25 November 2007 |
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CanWest News
11/19/2007
By Mike Blanchfield and Andrew Mayeda
Analysis suggests that a warlord has been awarded contracts worth $11
million
First of a five-part series
OTTAWA -- The Defence Department is keeping secret the names of
dozens of companies that received almost $42 million worth of
contracts in Afghanistan.
However, an analysis by CanWest News Service suggests that more than
$1.1 million in business has been awarded to an Afghan company that
bears the same name as one of Kandahar's most infamous warlords.
Citing national security concerns, the Defence Department has blanked
out the names of all vendors from an internal database of contracts
released under Access to Information. The contracts cover services
ranging from hauling gravel to supplying specialized communications
equipment and toilet paper.
The censorship is only one example of the growing trend toward
secrecy that appears to be enveloping the Canadian Forces as it
expands its use of civilian contractors.
This persists despite pledges by the Harper government to improve
accountability and transparency, a key plank of the platform that
brought the Conservative party to power nearly two years ago.
A three-month investigation by CanWest News Service has concluded
that Canadian commanders in Afghanistan retain considerable
discretion over which contracts are awarded and how they are
reported. The result is that Canadians aren't given all the
information they need to determine whether they are getting good
value for their tax dollars.
In censoring the vendor names in the Defence Department's database,
officials say they are trying to protect contractors from being
targeted by the Taliban.
The disclosure policy, however, appears to be arbitrary and
inconsistent, since some of the names from the list have already been
published on the department's website.
Federal departments are required to publicly disclose the details of
all contracts over $10,000.
Even when contracts appear on the website, it is difficult to get a
complete picture of how much Canada is paying private companies to
support the Afghanistan mission. The website data is part of a
massive database that does not single out contracts related to
Afghanistan and is devoid of contract details beyond the basic
amount.
The Defence Department could not provide an estimate of how much it
spends on all civilian contracts in support of the Afghanistan
mission. The $42-million database includes some, but not necessarily
all, such contracts.
But CanWest News Service found that at least 29 contracts, totalling
$1.14 million, went to a corporate entity known simply as "Sherzai,"
raising the question of whether the contracts were awarded to Gul
Agha Sherzai, a powerful warlord and former governor of Kandahar.
Sherzai was instrumental in supporting Hamid Karzai, before he became
Afghanistan's president, in his efforts to rout the Taliban from
Kandahar in late 2001. Sherzai immediately filled the power vacuum
following the Taliban's ouster, establishing a fiefdom with the
backing of his own private militia before he was appointed governor.
Under a series of contracts tendered between January 2006 and March
2007, the Canadian military paid the company Sherzai $900,000 for
transportation services, while another $240,000 was paid out for
services described only as "defence" or "research and development."
CanWest News Service requested copies of those contracts from the
military under Access to Information, but was told earlier this month
that another 150 working days would be needed to process the request.
The military has refused to confirm whether the company is owned or
operated by Sherzai.
Western governments sometimes hire former militants in fragile states
as a means to bring them into the fold, said Peter Singer, a
Brookings Institution analyst who has studied the private military
industry. "It gets the warlords doing something else, because if they
don't have this kind of business, they will make trouble. It gives
their men jobs, it gets them off the streets."
But the practice has a number of troubling implications, he added.
"Are you are shifting these guys away from warlordism? Or are you
simply keeping these guys empowered? The other issue is whether they
use the positions not to create stability, but to go after their
local adversaries."
Sherzai was replaced as Kandahar governor in 2005 after his
administration was accused of widespread corruption.
A 2005 report by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and
International Studies described Sherzai as "corrupt and inefficient."
He is now the governor of Nangarhar province.
American journalist Sarah Chayes made Sherzai a central figure in her
2006 book about Afghan corruption, titled The Punishment of Virtue.
The book describes how Sherzai provided the U.S. army with fleets of
trucks, loads of gravel, and other assorted labour, all at inflated
prices.
The U.S. army's efforts to stimulate the local economy went awry
after Sherzai extorted kickbacks for the work his company provided at
Kandahar Airfield, Chayes writes. The kickbacks were worth one-
quarter of the daily wages of his workers.
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BUSINESS OF WAR
TODAY -- An investigation reveals who is getting some of millions in
Canadian defence contracts in Afghanistan.
Tuesday -- The untold inside story of how Tim Hortons came to
Afghanistan.
Wednesday -- The Canadian military has been quietly buying record
supplies of guns and ammunition.
Thursday -- A former Afghan warlord is being paid to guard a military
base in Taliban country.
Friday -- Big foreign firms cash in on reconstruction of Afghanistan. |
