The eight private security guards at the US embassy in Kabul who had been facing accusations that they participated in drunken parties with bizarre hazing rituals, have been fired and have left Afghanistan. The guards were working for ArmorGroup North America.
The government watchdog group Project On Government Oversight (POGO) obtained the photographs as well as e-mails, videos and other documents from whistleblowers describing the abuses. The whistleblowers said the behavior was carried out during a time when the Taliban and al-Qaeda were moving against U.S. targets. POGO said the guards live and work in a “Lord of Flies” environment, referring to the famous novel about British children stranded on an island.
Photo: Project on Government Oversight
According to POGO, the guards had brawled, drunk vodka from each other's buttocks and urinated on people. POGO sent a letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying that it was pleased the state department had taken action but expressed concern that the wrong people might have been punished as some of the people in the photographs had been forced to participate.
The US embassy said in a statement: "The entire senior management team of ArmorGroup North America in Kabul is being replaced immediately. The embassy security office continues its interviews of every one of the ArmorGroup guards." The photographs are available here.
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