US government failed 3rd party contractors in Afghanistan: Study

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs
20 Dec 2022 17:49
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A new study reveals that the US government has done little to enforce the Defense Base Act in Afghanistan, which calls for the provision of compensation to all workers.

Afghan contractors

A recently published paper exposed labor abuses committed by the US government during the war in Afghanistan, denying compensation.

Published by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, the paper points out that the US government relied heavily on contractors in Afghanistan.

According to the paper, approximately 65% of wartime contractors in 2020 were Afghan citizens or a third-party country, such as Nepal.

It suggests that "the US military and Department of Labor have done little to enforce the U.S. Defense Base Act (DBA), which calls for the provision of compensation to all workers, regardless of their nationality, injured under U.S. contracts, and for the provision of financial compensation to their kin in case of death."

Relying on the Freedom of Information Act and interviews with more than 200 third-country nationals, the majority of which are from Nepal, the authors of the paper pointed to several findings.

First, the paper found that "over twelve years between 2009 and 2021, the Department of Labor fined contracting companies performing work in Afghanistan only six times for failing to report Defense Base Act claims for their employees. The total amount of these fines amounted to just $3,250."

The tally of the war on Afghanistan

Second, "The Army Contracting Command-Afghanistan was able to show that it terminated just four contracts in Afghanistan due to contractor failure to purchase DBA insurance between 2009 and 2020."

According to the paper, 12 Nepali contractors "who were injured or killed while working under U.S. government subcontracts in Afghanistan" were not properly compensated.

The paper points out that the authors "interviewed Nepalis who received DBA compensation for injuries in Iraq only after filing legal challenges with the help of American lawyers."

It highlights that the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) has estimated that "the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers alone paid companies $58.5 million between 2005-2011 that was supposed to go towards insurance premiums for their workers, but which was instead pocketed."

The Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs' paper concludes that "even though the U.S. has withdrawn from Afghanistan, U.S. Central Command reports that it still relies on more than 21,000 contractors in its area of responsibility — more than 9,000 of whom are third-country nationals."