All US Contractors To Leave Afghanistan During Military Withdrawal - Commander

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st April, 2021) The US plans to withdraw all private American military contractors from Afghanistan along with service members, leaving the Pentagon scrambling to develop plans to continue supporting the Afghan military remotely, the commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM), General Kenneth McKenzie told Congress on Tuesday.

"Everyone will leave. All US defense contractors will leave as part of the withdrawal," McKenzie told the House Armed Services Committee. "We'll try to develop ways to do distant contracting where we can. Clearly there're going to be some things that we're not going to be able to do any more as the contractors leave.

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As late as Friday, the US Defense Department said some American contractors would likely remain in Afghanistan after the US completes the withdrawal of about 2,500 remaining service members by the September 11 deadline set by President Joe Biden.

As of October, there were more than 18,000 such contractors, including about 4,700 locally hired Afghans, with the remainder about equally divided between Americans and those from other nations, according to media reports.