Reply #8: I'm not convinced. Watch what happens with contractors:

[tekisui]

With President Obama’s announcement of the beginning of a phased withdrawal from Afghanistan, attention naturally turned to the troops coming out, those remaining and how they will fare in the difficult months and years ahead. What continues to pass almost unnoticed about our presence in Afghanistan is the number of private contractors at work there supporting U.S. forces. According to a recent report by the Congressional Research Service there are almost as many contractors in that country as uniformed U.S. personnel (90,000 versus 99,000). When both Iraq and Afghanistan are taken together, there are more contractors (155,000) than military personnel (145,000). In addition, there are thousands more contractors in the Central Command Area of Responsibility (AOR) providing additional support for operations. The President did not mention them at all in his announcement.

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The number of contractors in Afghanistan actually rose faster than the number of combat forces. A reason for this is that without their support in areas such as logistics and supply chain operations, base construction and operations, base security and maintenance, military forces could not deploy. Similarly, their numbers are likely to decline more slowly than the number of combat troops. Supplies still have to arrive in country, bases will need to be operated and maintained, and vehicles will have to be repaired.

In fact, it is possible that some categories of contractors may even increase as the drawdown progresses. Combat operations will continue and may even intensify. This means there will be an ongoing need for maintenance and repair, intelligence support and supply chain management. But among the troops being withdrawn will be those providing the same functions as some private contractors, what is called combat service support. Since the work will still need to be done, the demand on those categories of private contractors could grow and their numbers in country actually increase. In addition, withdrawing forces creates new demands for similar services as equipment is prepared for shipment out of country, bases must be closed and their contents inventoried and disposed of and continuity of operations maintained.

more: http://www.defpro.com/news/details/25795/?SID=227e15991d7af12605c722e545853456