kabul

The company tasked with guarding the U.S. embassy in Kabul stands accused of defrauding the State Department, hiring non-English speaking guards and involvement in prostitution.

James Gordon, the former director of operations for the North American branch of ArmorGroup — the State Department contractor accused of physical and sexual harassment while hired to protect the U.S. embassy in Kabul — plans to file a wrongful termination lawsuit against the company, according to a press release his lawyers sent me. Tomorrow [...]

The AP in Kabul reports that the U.S. Embassy there has cashiered eight of the ArmorGroup security contractors accused of “lewd behavior and sexual misconduct,” as well as ArmorGroup’s in-country management team.
This smells more like crisis management than accountability. For one thing, as the Project on Government Oversight and Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) have disclosed, [...]

It’s still unclear exactly when the State Department’s inspector general began its inquiry into department contractor ArmorGroup’s apparent physical and sexual harrasment at the U.S. embassy in Kabul. Spokesman Ian Kelly said yesterday that the department has known about the latest allegations from the much-criticized company for “ten days,” but couldn’t answer when the inquiry [...]

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly came out of the box yesterday with a strong statement. The State Department takes the allegations of impropriety on the part of ArmorGroup, the security company State hired to protect the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, so seriously that the Office of the Inspector General has opened an investigation. In fact, [...]

More from Center for American Progress’ Brian Katulis, who’s in Kabul to monitor Wednesday’s Thursday’s Afghanistan election for Democracy International. He writes on Foreign Policy’s AfPak Channel:
In addition to the potential for more pre-election attacks by the Taliban, speculation abounds about the possibility for post-election political violence between different factions. The presidential elections would [...]

There’s a haunting paragraph in Nancy Youssef’s dispatch from Kabul today. She writes about the influx of U.S. diplomats and other civilians to Kabul — generally considered a Good Thing, even if their activities may be less necessary in the capitol than in the provinces but whatever — and how their presence is, ironically, making [...]

Consider this one unverified, but The Australian (h/t Small Wars Journal) is reporting that Capital-T Taliban leader Mullah Omar has reversed his position on negotiating a peace deal with the Karzai government:

“Mullah Omar has given the green light to talks,” said one of the mediators, Abdullah Anas, a former friend of Osama bin Laden who [...]

BETWEEN BAGRAM AIR FIELD AND FORWARD OPERATING BASE SALERNO, Afghanistan – When I arrived at Bagram, a public-affairs officer named Chuck asked me what I thought of Afghanistan, notwithstanding the fact that all I had seen so far was Kabul. I told him that the place reminded me of the moon. Chuck laughed as he [...]

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan – Lots of soldiers walk through Bagram’s main strip, Disney Drive, in various stages of uniform.
Then there’s a contingent that’s out of uniform and wearing neither contractor lanyards nor carrying Defense Dept. civilian badges. They’ve got beards – thick, grody ones – and tattoos, their heads covered with baseball caps, outfitted [...]