What Is The Real Casualty Toll In Afghanistan

In this photograph taken Jan. 31, 2007, Afghan men are trained by U.S. military contractors during a exercise in the southern town of Qalat, the capital of Zabul province. A new government report shows the number of contractor deaths in Afghanistan has increased in recent months. (Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images)

Contractor Deaths Accelerating In Afghanistan As They Outnumber Soldiers -- Propublica

A recent Congressional Research Service analysis [1] obtained by ProPublica looked at the number of civilian contractors killed in Afghanistan in recent months. It's not pretty.

Of the 289 civilians killed since the war began more than eight years ago, 100 have died in just the last six months. That's a reflection of both growing violence and the importance of the civilians flooding into the country along with troops in response to President Obama's decision to boost the American presence in Afghanistan.

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My Comment: The paragraph that caught my eye was the following ....

The latest U.S. Department of Defense numbers show there are actually more civilian contractors on the ground in Afghanistan than there are soldiers. The Pentagon reported [2] 107,292 U.S.-hired civilian workers in Afghanistan as of February 2010, when there were about 78,000 soldiers. This is apparently the first time that contractors have exceeded soldiers by such a large margin.

Wow .... that is a lot of civilian contractors on the ground. In reality .... combining military and civilian .... we probably have a total that is closer to 200,000 men and women serving in Afghanistan, a toatl that is rarely discussed in public. I can also assume that the coalition forces also hire civilian contractors to do a lot of non-military work .... and these stats are probably not even incorporated in the final total.

Hat Tip: Great History