Civilian Contractor Deaths Soar in Afghanistan

In a first, support teams now outnumber soldiers
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 14, 2010 7:15 PM CDT
Civilian Contractor Deaths Soar in Afghanistan
An Afghan police officer patrols next to the wreckage of car used by a suicide bomber in Bagram. The blast in March wounded three US contractors.   (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

As the US ramps up its military presence in Afghanistan, life is becoming decidedly more dangerous for civilian contractors. Of the 289 killed there since the war started, 100 died in the last 6 months, reports ProPublica. And in what is apparently a first, the number of civilian workers (107,292) is bigger than the number of US soldiers (78,000).

The increase in deaths is "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," writes T. Christian Miller. If civilian deaths were added to soldier deaths (849), we'd be well beyond the milestone of 1,000.
(More Afghanistan war stories.)

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