War In Afghanistan

As Obama Sends More Troops, Giant Shadow Army Of Contractors Set To Grow In Afghanistan

Justin Elliott | December 1, 2009, 3:09PM

Contractors watch for threats on plane departing from Forward Operating Base Sharana in Eastern Afghanistan in May of 2009.

With President Obama addressing the nation tonight about a new escalation in Afghanistan, a perennially underexamined topic is once again receiving short shrift: the huge force of contractors, which as of June outnumbered the size of the U.S. troop presence itself, is likely to swell.

The Administration seemingly hasn't addressed the issue, and the word "contractor" doesn't appear much in media coverage -- for example, in the Times and Post stories on the escalation today.

But David Berteau, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, tells TPM that as Obama increases troop levels to at least 100,000, "there will definitely be an increase in the number of contractors."

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