Afghanistan has announced a formal ban on eight private security companies. President's spokesman Waheed Omer said the process of dissolving the companies and collecting their weapons has been carried out successfully. The Interior Ministry spokesman Z. Bashary said, the UN and NATO forces had given the plan their backing. He said the plan is arranged in such a manner that it does not create a security gap, yet at the same time they can dismantle the private security companies. There are 52 such companies, both international and domestic, registered with the government. They employ thousands of staff, who many Afghans believe often act with impunity. President Hamid Karzai pledged to limit the scope of security companies when sworn in last year and in August signed a decree giving them four months to end their operations.