Pentagon spending on defense contractors hurt US in post-9/11 conflicts: study

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The Pentagon spent more than $14 trillion since the start of the Afghanistan War, with up to half of that going to for-profit military contractors, according to a new study released Monday.

The report, released by Brown University’s Costs of War Project and the Center for International Policy, highlights how the large reliance on private companies to tackle wartime tasks led to mission failures in American’s longest-ever conflict.

“Corporations large and small have been, by far, the largest beneficiaries of the post-9/11 surge in military spending,” the report states.

While some of these corporations earned profits widely considered legitimate, other wins “were the consequence of questionable or corrupt business practices that amount to waste, fraud, abuse, price-gouging or profiteering.”



Privatizing key functions such as shepherding fuel convoys or training and equipping Afghan security forces “can reduce the U.S. military’s control of activities that occur in war zones while increasing risks of waste, fraud and abuse,” the report states.

“Additionally, that the waging of war is a source of profits can contradict the goal of having the U.S. lead with diplomacy in seeking to resolve conflicts. More broadly, the outsized influence of defense contractors has resulted in a growing militarization of American.”

Despite the huge sums of money the United States pumped into Afghanistan over 20 years, Afghan security forces quickly collapsed to the Taliban last month in the final days of the U.S. military withdrawal from the country.

President Biden blamed the Afghans for the quick collapse, asserting they did not have the “will to fight.”

But the new report highlights the role private contractors played in the conflict and its outcome, specifically how the U.S. military’s reliance on contractors likely increased problems for Afghan security forces and made it more difficult for them to hold back the Taliban.

Read more…

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/571989-pentagon-spending-on-defense-contractors-hurt-us-in-post-9-11-conflicts-study?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EBB+09.14.21&utm_term=Editorial+-+Early+Bird+Brief&rl=1

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1 COMMENT

  1. Time to send these Rambos and deliver Afghanistan. In addition to their usual weaponry, they should carry a plastic body bag with their IDs in case bits and pieces need to be sent home for DNA testing.

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