Andrew
Posting #1
World
Risks of Afghan war shifts from soldiers to contractors
by Rob Nordland
publication name: The New York Times
published February 11, 2012
Main Ideas:
A lot of the traditional military jobs in this war have been shifted to the private sector. Private contractors work in Afghanistan as soldiers and bodyguards. More civilian contractors working for American companies than American soldiers died in Afghanistan last year for the first time during the war. Last year 430 american contractors were reported killed in Afghanistan. While the military announces all of its deaths in war, private contractors frequently do not. Most of the contractors deaths are unknown, and their families are uncompensated.
Conclusion: The risks of the war in Afghanistan are falling upon more private contractors than soldiers. Since a lot more of them are employed in Afghanistan than soldiers there have been a lot more deaths of contractors, most of which go unnoticed in the U.S. This is bad that a lot more U.S. contractors are being killed because their families arent getting financially supported after they die.
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ReplyDeleteI was fascinated by this new phase of the Afghan war, that the responsibility is shifting from the military to the private sector. It seems this aspect of the war has been widely overlooked, as Andrew points out in his conclusion (the deaths of contractors "go unnoticed"). 430 is a substantial number and I'm surprised there hasn't been more publicity about the issue.
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