Washington Post report indicates more US contractor deaths than US troops in Afghanistan

On August 30, 2021, United States military forces withdrew from Afghanistan. The withdrawal of U.S. troops concluded the longest war in American history. On August 26, 2021, 13 U.S. service members were killed and 18 were injured in an attack at a security checkpoint at Kabul airport. The U.S. service members killed in the attack were the first American military personnel killed in action in Afghanistan since February 2020. At least 170 Afghan civilians were also killed in the attack.   

Prior to the conclusion of the war, a December 2019 report from The Washington Post indicates that more American contractors died during the war in Afghanistan than American troops. The report suggests that the U.S. government did not keep an accurate count of the number of American contractors who died during the war in Afghanistan.

The Washington Post report estimates that 3,814 U.S. civilian contractors have died since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan in October 2001. The estimated number of civilian contractors that the Post reports as being killed in Afghanistan is significantly higher than the number that U.S. government statistics indicate. The U.S. Department of Labor reported that 1,774 civilian contractors have died in Afghanistan since the start of the war until December 2019.

"This is an estimate of all U.S. contractors killed in the various war zones based, yes, on DOL reporting of deaths. I am not aware of this being discussed DOD or SIGAR reports. Like the number of Afghan military and police killed, there is a dearth of information," said Neta Crawford, the chair of Boston University's political science department and one of the directors of Brown University's Costs of War project .

* Additional information regarding the U.S. war in Afghanistan from Linda Bilmes of Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government & Brown University Costs of War Project:

As of April 2021:

* American service members killed in Afghanistan: 2,448 

* Afghan national military & police killed: 66,000

* Afghan civilians: 47,245

* Taliban & other opposition fighters killed: 51,191

Sources:

Business Insider: "More US contractors have died in Afghanistan than US troops - but the Pentagon doesn't keep track" by Ellen Ioanes. December 10, 2019 More US Contractors Have Died in Afghanistan Than US Troops (businessinsider.com)

Associated Press: "Costs of the Afghanistan war, in lives and dollars" by Ellen Knickmeyer. August 17, 2021. Costs of the Afghanistan war, in lives and dollars (apnews.com)

The U.S. War in Afghanistan: 1999 - 2021. https://www.cfr.org/timeline/us-war-afghanistan