The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org. April 15, 2010 As Contractors Outnumber Soldiers in Afghanistan, Deaths Grow ------------------------------------------------------------- New figures show the gap between US contractors and soldiers in Afghanistan continues to widen. According to the Congressional Research Service, there were over 107,000 US-hired contractors in Afghanistan as of February, compared to 78,000 US soldiers. Contractor deaths are also on the rise. Of the 289 civilians that have died under US employ in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001, 100 have died in the last six months. .