Under Contract

Noah Coburn is Professor of Anthropology at Bennington College. He is one of the few contemporary anthropologists with years of on-the-ground field research experience in Afghanistan. He is the author of three previous books, most recently Losing Afghanistan: An Obituary for the Intervention (Stanford, 2016). His writing has been featured in The Washington Post, The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, and The Financial Times.

"In his vivid and insightful first-person account, Noah Coburn expands the scope and impact of modern warfare by unveiling the lives of subcontractors often supplied by human trafficking networks and always trapped in a shameful maze of greed and exploitation. Under Contract puts a human face on crucial issues in the prolonged U.S. war in Afghanistan, exposing the grim underworld of migrant workers."—Ann Hagedorn, author of The Invisible Soldiers: How America Outsourced Our Security "In this highly readable and disturbing account of the American war effort in Afghanistan, Noah Coburn traces the complex transnational web that has snared individuals from various countries in the conflict. A Gurkha story as well as war story, Under Contract chronicles not valor and glory, but poverty, human trafficking, and institutional racism. It will prove a useful resource for anyone interested in international relations, migration, and conflict."—Deepak Thapa, co-author of A Kingdom under Siege: Nepal's Maoist Insurgency, 1996 to 2004 "With a vivid eye for detail, analytic lucidity, and compassion, Noah Coburn opens up a space between anthropology and investigative journalism. His journey to understand the human ripple effects of the war in Afghanistan takes him to Nepal, India, Turkey, the Republic of Georgia, and the U.K. in search of people who, often driven by economic desperation, worked for U.S. military contractors. A disturbing picture emerges: a world governed by massive inequalities and the brute realities of chance where some profit handsomely from war while others, dead or maimed for life, are treated as cheap, disposable, and conveniently invisible casualties of American intervention. An important account of a new neoliberal mode of warfare, vital reading for anyone interested in military affairs, Afghanistan, migration, and globalization."—Hugh Gusterson, author of Drone: Remote Control Warfare "An irreplaceable and beautifully written book. Under Contract is one of the richest and most straightforward ethnographic accounts of war yet written. In focusing on the long and difficult paths of the contractors of the latest Afghan war, Coburn is the first to truly demonstrate the transnational and profit-driven nature of most modern war."—Catherine Lutz, Brown University "Coburn offers a highly engaging ethnography of contractors in the Global War on Terror....In this vivid account of these modern mercenaries, Coburn takes the reader behind the scenes not only to understand why they are used, but also to understand their lives and experiences....This work also demonstrates how outsourcing a war does not give any incentive for peace....Recommended."—T. M. May, CHOICE

• Prologue: No Small War1. Mercenaries, Contractors, and Other Hired Guns2. Nepalis at War3. One Blast, Many Lives4. Costs and Compensation5. Manpower6. Two Hundred Years of Gurkhas7. "Who Will Be a Gurkha?"8. Through the Colonial Looking Glass9. The Labor of War10. A Protective Government?11. Of Roses and Revolutions12. Economic Ottomans13. Turkish Engineers and Other Heroes of the Intervention14. Building an Empire?15. Detained16. Kidnapped17. Hom Bahadur18. The Boredom of Being Trafficked19. Accountants at Wars20. Classes and Genders at War21. Returning Abroad22. When You Can't Go Home23. Where the War Went