As the US starts pulling combat troops from Afghanistan, locals who have worked for the occupation forces are worried about their fate once the US leaves.
According to a report from Bloomberg Law, the Pentagon has just under 17,000 contractors employed in Afghanistan. In January, the US military said there were about 4,700 Pentagon contractors in Afghanistan that were hired locally.
Unsurprisingly, the Taliban has threatened many of the Afghan contractors that have been supporting the US war effort. Speaking to Afghanistan’s Tolo News, the contractors said they are calling on the Biden administration to take them out of Afghanistan and grant them asylum in either the US or Europe.
Mohammad Arif Ahmadzai, one of the contractors, told Tolo that he’s been working for the US for 10 years and that he’s been threatened by the Taliban many times. “What will be our fate? Obviously, death,” he said. “We will face tough conditions if we are not taken out of the country.”
While President Biden said he’s pulling all combat troops out by September 11th, the US plans to continue supporting the Afghan military financially. On Monday, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the US was looking at what sort of “contractual” support it will give the Afghan military after the withdrawal.
Gen. Frank McKenzie, the head of US Central Command, has said contractors who are US citizens will be leaving along with combat troops. But he left open the possibility of continuing to employ contractors of other nationalities.
Many Afghan contractors spoke with Tolo and said they want to leave now that US troops are withdrawing, a sign that they have no faith in the Afghan government to stand alone, no matter how much money the US gives them. One contractor said, “We should hold a gathering of over 3,000 people outside the US embassy so that we can achieve our right.”
That sets a clear example to those who collaborate with US invaders in other countries in the future. The US will drop you like they have dropped bombs on your country.
Tough being a traitor …
These dummies should have started thinking before they offered to collaborate with the invader. Even my blind pet mouse could have told them that only suicidal crazies ever rely on America’s word.
Should have learned lessons from vietnam
You will be left behind, suckers. Are you that dumb? Ever hear of the Saigon Evacuation? Or the fate of Iraqi collaborators?
Do you think for a moment that the people who have been bombing your country and gunning down your compatriots actually care a whit about YOU?
Do I feel sorry for you? No I don’t. Abandonment is the fate of traitors.
Speaking of Iraqi collaborators:
A friend signed up right after 9/11.
Was sent to Iraq and one of his jobs was prison guard. He soon became completely disillusioned about US presence there and had seen some things US troops did to Iraqis he could not tell me about.
He told me one of the prisoners was betraying his fellow prisoners and his job was to secretly pull the prisoner from his cell for the meetings. He came to hate the prisoner and the intelligence officers.
He was so disgusted by this, he intentionally was not as covert as he should have been.
Of course, the other prisoners figured out what was going on and killed that collaborator while my friend was on guard duty.
He told me it took all night to kill him and my friend pretended not to hear the gruesome murder.
He said that was nowhere near the worst thing he witnessed in Iraq.
Yeah. It’s well known that war brings out the best in everyone.