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| Afghanistan |
| Gen. McChrystal: 'Too many contractors' |
| 2010-04-19 |
| The US commander in Afghanistan said Friday that the military is wasting money by employing too many private contractors to do jobs better done by soldiers or local Afghans. "We have created in ourselves a dependency on contractors that is greater than it ought to be," General Stanley McChrystal told an audience of French officers and military experts at France's defence university in Paris. "I think we've gone too far. I think that the use of contractors was done with good intentions so that we could limit the number of military. I think in some cases we thought it would save money. I think it doesn't save money." The US operation in Afghanistan employs more civilian contractors than soldiers, carrying out jobs ranging from catering and logistics to — more controversially — armed escort duties and intelligence gathering. According to a US Congressional report, citing figures from US Central Command, in September last year there were 104,100 Department of Defense contractors assigned to Afghanistan compared to only 63,950 troops. McChrystal said the numbers were too high and that more could be done to draw in Afghans and give them a bigger stake in the operation. "I think it would be better to reduce the number of contractors involved, increase the number of military if necessary and, where we have contractors, in many cases, I believe we should stop using foreign contractors and use a greater number of Afghan contractors," he said. Last month, McChrystal reduced the number of civilians in military camps in at least one area, ordering the closure of western style burger joints and pizza parlours on US bases in Afghanistan. |
| Posted by:Pappy |
| #2 I believe we should stop using foreign contractors and use a greater number of Afghan contractors," he said. Could cut out the middle man and hire the Taliban directly. |
| Posted by: ed 2010-04-19 21:52 |
| #1 Ironically, were the US to adopt the practice of hiring *more* contractors, with guns, it would take a lot of the pressure off NATO forces. In short, recruit tens of thousands of mercenaries to do things like occupy captured land after NATO pulls out, preventing the bad guys from rolling back on in. It is a proven tactic. It is much harder to take ground than it is to keep it. So NATO takes the ground, and the mercs hang on to it until the Afghan government can occupy it and establish control. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2010-04-19 09:50 |