E-Mail This Article Printer-Friendly Version Subscribe to The Post

Monday, December 2, 2002; Page E01

DynCorp, a Reston private technology firm with an extensive security practice, has a new assignment: protecting Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

DynCorp began assisting with the protection of Karzai in early November, said Darlene Kirk, a State Department diplomatic security spokeswoman. In mid-November, the State Department's diplomatic security services assumed responsibility for the Afghan leader's protection from the military's Special Operations Forces, and contracted a portion of the work to DynCorp.

"Our office is in charge, and our agents are running this," Kirk said. "Most of the people on the ground there are ours. DynCorp will be assisting and the military will continue to provide a presence as well."

A DynCorp spokesman declined to comment on the company's work in Afghanistan.

Keeping Karzai safe has been a priority of the U.S. operations in Afghanistan since he became the country's interim leader in December 2001. Karzai, chosen as president in July, survived an assassination attempt in Kandahar on Sept. 5, when Special Forces bodyguards killed a gunman who opened fire on a presidential motorcade.

The participation of DynCorp marks the first involvement of a private security company to protect the Afghan president. DynCorp had assisted with the protection of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in the early 1990s, Kirk said.

The terms of the contract and the number of DynCorp personnel involved were not disclosed. "What we'd like to do is to eventually train the Afghans to take this over for themselves," Kirk said.