Risks of Afghan war shift from soldiers to contractors

Even dying is being outsourced here. This is a war where traditional military jobs,from mess hall cooks to base guards and convoy drivers,have increasingly been shifted to the private sector

ROD NORDLAND

Even dying is being outsourced here. This is a war where traditional military jobs,from mess hall cooks to base guards and convoy drivers,have increasingly been shifted to the private sector. Many US generals and diplomats have private contractors as personal bodyguards. And along with the risks have come the consequences: More civilian contractors working for US companies than US soldiers died in Afghanistan last year for the first time during the war.

US employers here are under no obligation to publicly report the deaths of their employees and frequently do not. While the military announces the names of all its war dead,private companies routinely notify only family members. Most of the contractors die unheralded and uncounted and in some cases,leave their survivors uncompensated.

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By continuing to outsource high-risk jobs that were previously performed by soldiers,the military,in effect,is privatising the ultimate sacrifice, said Steven L. Schooner,a law professor at George Washington University who has studied the civilian casualties issue.

Last year,at least 430 employees of American contractors were reported killed in Afghanistan: 386 working for the Defence Department,43 for the United States Agency for International Development and one for the State Department,according to data provided by the American Embassy in Kabul and publicly available in part from the United States Department of Labour.

By comparison,418 American soldiers died in Afghanistan last year,according to Defence Department statistics compiled by icasualties.org,an independent organisation that monitors war deaths.

Experts who have studied the phenomenon say that because many contractors do not comply with even the current,scanty reporting requirements,the true number of private contractor deaths may be far higher.