By Deborah Avant
A soldier (click here) walks outside a military outpost in the village of Loy Mandah, Afghanistan, carrying a portable speaker, in an often-violent area that has seen no clashes during the reduction of violence, on Feb. 23.
On Saturday night (click here) — right at midnight — the United States’ agreement with the Afghan Taliban is scheduled to take effect. While the agreement says the United States will withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, we know nothing of what it says about military contractors. But contractors have provided the lion’s share of U.S. military staffing in Afghanistan, and other post-9/11 wars.
Here’s what you need to know about military contractors in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The contractor force is largely hidden.
Since the U.S. government began keeping track in the mid-aughts, contractors have made up more than half of the military personnel working for the United States in Afghanistan and Iraq.
But stories about contractors rarely make the news. In a 2010 study, Lee Sigelman and I tracked news coverage of contractors and service members between 2003 and 2007. Articles mentioning service members ranged from 476 to 1,251 each quarter. Those mentioning contractors ranged from one to 95 a quarter — a dramatically smaller number. As Steven Schooner, T. Christian Miller and others have documented, even their deaths remain unsung, making them a “disposable army.” According to The Washington Post’s Afghanistan Papers, more than 3,814 U.S. contractors have died in that war — while only 2,300 U.S. military personnel have. The deaths of contractors overtook those of soldiers in 2010. That imbalance significantly reduces the political costs of U.S. wars....
The Taliban went on vacation until their 5000 members were released from Afghan prisons. Now that it isn't happening, there is no peace deal. Americans also need to be skeptical when there are rallies or celebrations or protests like this because they are staged to bring about American sentiment. When they have American sentiment, they know it effects the elections. Don't be stupid, the truth is the truth.
By David Welna
Afghan Taliban militants and villagers celebrate the U.S. peace deal Monday in the Alingar district of Laghman Province. The group resumed offensive operations against Afghan security forces this week, ending a partial truce.
With less than four days to go (click here) before peace talks are to begin in Afghanistan between that nation's authorities and the Taliban insurgency, things are not looking promising.
Taliban fighters are stepping up attacks on Afghan security forces. American warplanes are counterattacking. And a prisoner exchange that was to take place before those intra-Afghan talks start is being rejected by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
On Friday in western Kabul, the Associated Press reports that gunmen opened fire at a largely Shiite gathering, killing at least 32 and injuring scores more. The Islamic State-Khorasan Province claimed responsibility for the attack.
All this comes after the U.S. and the Taliban — but not the Afghan government — signed an agreement Feb. 29 in Doha, Qatar with the stated aim of "bringing peace to Afghanistan" more than 18 years after U.S. forces pushed the Taliban out of power....
