McChrystal: Too Many Contractors in Afghanistan

Updated at 7:45 p.m. EDT

The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan said Friday that the coalition depends too much on private-sector contractors, and insisted his forces are keeping close watch on the flow of Taliban fighters who are training in Iran.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, during a four-day visit to France, said the coalition in Afghanistan has become too dependent on private contractors in the effort to stabilize the country.

"I think we've gone too far," McChrystal said at France's IHEDN military institute. "I actually think we would be better to reduce the number of contractors involved."

Alternatives could include increasing the number of troops "if necessary," or "using a greater number of Afghan contractors, or Afghans to help with the mission," he said.

McChrystal said the use of contractors was founded upon "good intentions," such as to limit military commitments or to save money for governments.

"I think it doesn't save money," he said. "We have created in ourselves a dependency on contractors that I think is greater than it ought to be."

He didn't specify where any cuts might come.

A Congressional Research Service report in January about the Pentagon's use of contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan said that as of September, more than 11,400 private security contractors were in Afghanistan. It cited Pentagon figures.

The report, which has been posted on the Web site of the Federation of American Scientists, said 94 percent of contractors in Afghanistan were armed - and 90 percent were local nationals.

The issue of contractors - who carry out tasks as diverse as security for diplomats, advisory roles or mercenary work - has been a thorny one for U.S. and some allied commanders and policymakers.

The company once known as Blackwater was re-dubbed Xe after a deadly shooting incident by its guards that left 17 people dead in Baghdad. Xe is now trying to win Defense Department approval for a bid to train police in Afghanistan.

Also Friday, McChrystal pointed to "indications" that some Taliban fighters have had training in Iran, and that weapons and ammunition have come across Iran's border with Afghanistan.

"The numbers are not operationally significant, they have not changed the fight, and I am not prepared to tell you that the government of Iran is executing that as a policy," he said.

"But I am prepared to say that we watch it closely, and if something were to increase, it would be something that would concern me significantly," he said.

Last month, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates accused Iran of "playing a double game" by nurturing relations with the Afghanistan government while supporting insurgents to undermine U.S. and NATO troops. Iran denies the allegation.

A type of Iranian explosive device used heavily by Shiite militias in Iraq - known as explosively formed projectiles - have not turned up in Afghanistan in large numbers.

In the past, Iran's Shiite republic has been hostile to the Taliban, who adhere to and preach a hardline Sunni form of Islam. Tehran didn't oppose the U.S.-led ouster of the Taliban from power in Afghanistan in 2001.

Iran has recently warmed to the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad used a visit to Kabul last month to criticize the United States.

McChrystal was in Paris on a European swing aimed in part to thank NATO allies for their roles in Afghanistan. McChrystal is next to visit Berlin, said Adm. Christophe Prazuck, a French military spokesman.

Polls show public opinion in many European contributor countries has soured over the Afghan mission - now in its ninth year. France has about 3,750 troops committed to Afghanistan.

[LeRP0321]

It would seem to me that:

Since the conflict in Afghanistan, and consequently the conflict in Iraq are an American effort financed by the American Tax payer at the immeasurable cost of (mostly) young American lives, that some sort of measures would have been put in place to ensure that such an enormous investment of American lives and treasure would return to the American citizenry.

With the American economy in such dire straits, Americans out of work or suffering lay-offs, and chronic unemployment: consequently losing their homes, their cars, their savings and their dreams, that even the most lame brained politician would have noticed that with so many positions and jobs needing to be manned in support of the American war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan, so much of our tax money has been spent and wasted over so many years in both Iraq and Afghanistan by hiring the cheaper labour of foreign nationals.

That some politician would have seen the wisdom of setting these jobs aside for Americans willing to go and support our troops in their efforts while also earning a decent living, and sending the money the money they earn home allowing Americans to keep their homes, their savings and their dreams instead of having all these taxpayer dollars (for over so long a period of time) just carted away by the fist full?s by thousands of foreign nationals seeking their fortune at the expense of the American tax payer and the lives and moral of our troops.

That even the most lame brain politician would have summarized that: American labour, while more expensive, would have been the wiser investment as the Americans working abroad in support of the war effort would inevitably bring these hard earned tax payer dollars back home to American soil to be spent on the American economy and be recycled to once more support our troops in their effort. How about this for stimulus: one more car purchased, or one credit card paid off, or one home mortgage saved, is this not good for our economy? Would this not give some semblance of honour and graditude to the sacrifices of our troops as well as the American tax payer?

Hello....is anybody listening?

[IraqAfghnFormerContractor]

General McChrystal is an .... The military are first in line when there are contractor jobs. It is always a matter of not enough qualified management oversite of the US military, USG empolyee, or contractor; and not enough qualified people in general. Who thinks the US military is qualified to assist any of these counties in anything other than builing military forces? Thumbs down on the Dept of State who come in when it is safe. The USG needs more qualified Administrative Contracting Officers [and that isn't DCMA either]. In any of these jobs, 20% or less are the right people in the right job. People in these counties want jobs, which means businesses need to invest and sell goods.

[K. Daraa]

General McChrystal said, "I think it doesn't save money," He said, "We have created in ourselves a dependency on contractors that I think is greater than it ought to be." Perhaps DoD has. The really weird thing about it, is that DoD leaders constantly negate all the big benefits that contractors bring to them. Picture an analytic work center filled with military, government, and contract counter-terror analysts. The military and govies are paid salary, cradle-to-grave. The contractors make good hourly salaries, say $35 to $40 per hour. A military officer manages the work center. The military officer cuts budget corners by making the contract and government analysts clean the toilets in their work center, because the officer isn't willing to pay $10/hour to hire a contract janitor. Another example. The government has a meeting in the Washington area that lasts four hours on one day. 50 government and contract workers from around the globe have to travel to D.C. area for that four-hour meeting. The average cost per person to attend is approximately $2,200 for four hours. Every one of those 50 people works in a place that has a virtual teleconference center co-located with them. The cost of a four-hour VTC meeting could easily be reduced to a few hundred, not counting the 50s' salaries rather than $110,000 plus a nearly a week of time back and forth. Multiply the previous scenarios by thousands of times a year, and you get the picture that our DoD and government in general, are NOT good thrifty stewards of the taxpayers' money. Another example of wasting contractor benefit: Contractors don't have to attend the "political correctness" meetings that DoD government employees and the military have to. The govies and military get sucked into commanders' calls and such every day....general military training, equal opportunity training, law-of-armed-conflict, first aid, human relations training, I could go on for an hour. You have a bunch of really stupid DoD leaders out there, trying to force the contractors to attend all the same ancillary bull as the govies and military. So, the contractors do it, because that is what the customer insists on. STUPID waste of contractor hours. If DoD leaders program their resources right, no contractor should be sitting in a position that either a military or government civilian could occupy for more than five years. That is because the "five-year-programming" rolls forward. If a contractor remains doing that job beyond five, it is usually because of revolving-door leadership, that rotates out every 18-months to two years, and the system fails to have program management continuity. All bets are off in war zones. You get supplies and stuff with whatever it takes to get it done.

[babooph]

One is too many-despite what the propaganda system has been directed in calling the mercenaries "contractors" -Washington defeated the "contractors" when he crossed the Delaware-we need no thugs...

[iirishamerican]

Of course they are. Just as there were thousands training in Iraq, Im sure they have just as many terrorist training camps as Iraq had. Some people like to yell about invading Iraq and they don't have anything to do with 9/11 and blah blah blah but seem to forget all those taliban and alqueda strong holds and terrorist training camps that were wiped out in Iraq. So you know it wouldn't be any different in Iran, maybe worse now that obungler lets them do whatever they want with only warnings to answer to I can't say I would do any different I'm sure Iran is shaking in their boots, oh no mr obungler don't warn us again anything but that. pfhh