BBC News-Study Says Afghan Security Forces Help Fund The Taliban

A private security force in Afghanistan: AFP

(Story reported by BBC News)

Heavy US reliance on private security in Afghanistan has helped to line the pockets of the Taliban, a US Senate report says.

The study by the Senate Armed Services Committee says this is because contractors often fail to vet local recruits and end up hiring warlords.

The report demands "immediate and aggressive steps" to improve the vetting and oversight process.

Some 26,000 private security personnel, mostly Afghans, operate in Afghanistan.

Nine out of 10 of them work for the US government.

Private security firms in Afghanistan provide guards for everything from diplomatic missions and aid agencies to supply convoys.

In August, Afghan President Hamid Karzai gave private security companies four months to end operations in Afghanistan.

(Click here to read the full story on the BBC News website.)