Military Contractors in Afghanistan

Vanda Felbab-Brown joined Federal News Radio to discuss the use of private military contractors in Afganistan.

Vanda Felbab-Brown
: Introducing contractors into highly violent theaters, which Afghanistan has increasingly become, of course is problematic for a whole host of reasons. However, one has to ask why this policy has been adopted. There is a long history of NATO and the U.S. trying to find more helicopters to be deployed in Afghanistan.

For months, our secretary of Defense has been asking the Europeans to put in more helicopters, to move troops around, fir intelligence and interdiction missions – and these helicopters have not been forthcoming. The outcome has been we have had to rely on private contractors.

Listen to the interview » (MP3)

Military Contractors in Afghanistan

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Military Contractors in Afghanistan

Vanda Felbab-Brown Vanda Felbab-Brown Director - Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actors, Co-Director - Africa Security Initiative, Senior Fellow - Foreign Policy, Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology @VFelbabBrown

Vanda Felbab-Brown