Karzai Moves Against Private Contractors

The government of Afghanistan has announced a ban on eight foreign and Afghan private security firms, the Voice of America News reports.

President Hamid Karzai declared in August that the firms should cease operations and hand over their weapons by the end of the year.

The U.S. firm Xe Services, formerly known as Blackwater, is among those. Virginia-based NCL, FHI of New Mexico, and a large Afghan firm, White Eagle, are also being dissolved, CNN reported.

Karzai charged...