Military contractors in Afghanistan and Iraq

There are more military contractors than troops in Afghanistan, although about 2/3 of contractors are local Afghans (so in terms of nationality there are still more American troops than American contractors in Afghanistan).
In Iraq, as of June 30 there were 119,706 military contractors, down 10% from three months earlier and smaller than the number of U.S. troops, which stood at approximately 132,000. But as the Pentagon has been drawing down contractors in Iraq, their ranks have been growing in Afghanistan -- rising by 9% over that same three-month period to 73,968. More than two-thirds of those are local, which reflects the desire to employ Afghans as part of the counterinsurgency there.