107,796
— That’s the number of contractors supporting the 65,700 U.S. troops in Afghanistan in March. They represented 62% of the total, according to a new Congressional Research Service report, here. Contractors outnumbered troops in Afghanistan until December 2010, when President Obama’s troop surge arrived. But a subsequent contractor surge made the hired help a majority once again beginning in September 2011. h/t Steven Aftergood, FAS.
