Taliban militants dug a long-lasting tunnel underground and into the main jail in Kandahar city and whisked out more than 450 prisoners, most of whom were Taliban fighters, officials and insurgent said Monday.
The massive overnight jailbreak in Afghanistan's second-largest city underscores the Afghan government continuing weakness in the south despite an influx of international troops, funding and advisers. Kandahar city, in particular, has be a focus of the intercontinental effort to establish a strong Afghan government presence in former Taliban strongholds.
The number of security contractor working in Afghanistan has tripled since 2009 and is now at its highest level since the U.S. began its military participation there after 9/11, according to a new report by the Congressional investigate Service.
"In Afghanistan, as of December 2010, there were 18,919 private security contractor employees working for [the Department of Defense], the maximum number since DOD started tracking the data in September 2007," the report says. U.S. troop numbers are expected to lessen starting this summer, but there is no such stated goal for private security contractors, which ever more take on armed roles once reserved for uniformed human resources.
