When asked about this issue on Friday,\u00a0Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said<\/a>\u00a0he wasn\u2019t sure. “So on the contractors, we don\u2019t know exactly<\/strong>. \u00a0There are some preliminary plans. \u00a0And clearly, the goal is to get all our personnel out and I suspect that contractors will be part of that. But whether there\u2019ll still be a need for some contractor support, I just don\u2019t know,” he said.<\/p>\n The US plans to continue supporting the Afghan military and Air Force. Since the bulk of the maintenance for these armed forces is performed by US contractors,\u00a0there\u2019s a good chance the Pentagon will justify a continued presence of private contractor<\/strong>s.<\/p>\n According to\u00a0numbers released in January<\/a>, there are\u00a0over 18,000 contractors working in Afghanistan<\/strong>. About 4,700 of the current contractors are Afghans that were hired locally. The remaining come from outside of the country, including about a third who are US citizens.<\/p>\n According to\u00a0Stars and Stripes<\/em><\/a>, 1,575 of the contractors are armed mercenaries, mostly Americans and other foreigners. While this number is only a small fighting force, it could be combined with intelligence operatives and proxies like the Afghan military to give the US the ability to strike inside Afghanistan.<\/p>\n Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin\u00a0said on Wednesday<\/a>\u00a0that the US wants to maintain “counterterrorist assets” in the region. On Tuesday,\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>\u00a0cited<\/a>\u00a0current and former US officials who said the US\u00a0“will most likely rely on a shadowy combination of clandestine Special Operations forces, Pentagon contractors and covert intelligence operatives” to conduct operations inside Afghanistan<\/strong>.<\/p>\n US Special Forces in Afghanistan dress in traditional clothing and try to recruit locals for anti-Taliban operations (Source:\u00a0ABC News<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n In a separate note, Jeremy Kuzmarov notes<\/a>, the meaninglessness of President Biden\u2019s announcement becomes apparent when we consider that\u00a0the Pentagon employs more than\u00a0seven contractors for every serviceman or woman in Afghanistan<\/a><\/strong>, an increase from one contractor for every serviceman or woman a decade ago.<\/p>\n …<\/p>\n These totals reflect the U.S. government\u2019s strategy of outsourcing war to the benefit of private mercenary corporations, and as\u00a0a means of\u00a0distancing the war<\/a>\u00a0from the public and averting dissent<\/strong>, since relatively few Americans are directly impacted by it.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/assets.zerohedge.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_mobile\/public\/inline-images\/milcontractrs.jpg?itok=nc1FB4ia\")
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