Days after losing more than a dozen security contractors to a suicide attack in Kabul, Nepal has banned its citizens from working in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria, Reuters reported on Saturday.

The news agency said the decision was taken after a parliamentary panel asked the government to swoop on traffickers who send thousands of migrants every year to conflict zones, where they faced the risk of exploitation.

Behind the president’s directive to ‘accelerate’ the counter-ISIS campaign came a surge in the number of contractors assisting in the campaign against ISIS.

The number of private contractors working for the U.S. Defense Department in Iraq grew eight-fold over the past year, a rate that far outpaces the growing number of American troops training and advising Iraqi soldiers battling Islamic State militants.

by David Pfotenhauer — The unsubstantiated rumours of the private security company STTEP (Specialised Tasks, Training, Equipment and Protection International) being redeployed to Nigeria have yet to generate the furore that their initial deployment did in 2015. The earlier presence of STTEP prompted the South African government to label them as ‘mercenary’ in function and nature and therefore in contravention of existing domestic and international legal mechanisms. Other commentators took a broader view and characterised their arrival in northern Nigeria as a “logical step” (and as an act of desperation) following the poor performance of the Nigerian Defence Force (NDF) in their operations against Boko Haram.

Security staff charged with protecting New Zealand's ambassador to Iraq are said to have walked off the job after a pay dispute and claims cost-cutting has put private military contractors doing the work at higher risk.

The private security staff are paid by the Australian Government to protect Australia's embassy, which is shared with New Zealand and base to ambassador James Munro. The Australian reported this week that up to 40 protection specialists of the 67 who had guarded the embassy were to be flown out of Iraq as a result of the dispute.

The United States' occupation of Iraq established what is known as consensual democracy based on the division of society into Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds, as was the case in the pre-state phase. The political circumstances in the country have not been this terrible since 1921. Everyone observed how a corrupt elite has turned Iraq into a sectarian state in which the true concept of state is absent.

Violent groups such as ISIS and the popular opposition forces are outlawed militias that do not adhere to any constitution. Although the popular forces enjoy the support of the government, the latter has framed and directed them toward the implementation of a sectarian agenda as the government's position is against the Sunnis. When talks about supporting the Sunnis began, the current government in Baghdad started to worry about its future.

A year after Prince proposed private troops for Nigeria, the West African nation is now using mercenaries. Prince’s old firm, Blackwater, used to contract with the U.S. to protect convoys and officials, and train foreign armies — but caused controversy when its employees killed Iraqi civilians.

Nigeria’s government is deploying South African mercenaries in its effort to battle the Islamist Boko Haram militia that’s wreaking havoc in the northern part of the country, the New York Times reported last week.

CONTRACTOR SUPPORT OF U.S. OPERATIONS IN THE USCENTCOM AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY

BACKGROUND: This report updates DoD contractor personnel numbers in theater and outlines DoD efforts to improve management of contractors accompanying U.S. forces. It covers DoD contractor personnel deployed in Afghanistan (Operation Freedom’s Sentinel), Iraq (Operation Inherent Resolve), and the U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) area of responsibility (AOR).

KEY POINTS: In 3rd quarter FY 2015, USCENTCOM reported approximately 41,922 contractor personnel working for the DoD in the USCENTCOM AOR. This total reflects a decrease of approximately 7.5K from the previous quarter. A breakdown of DoD contractor personnel is provided below

However out of the common road seems to be, currently new security or military assistance providers rise up in the private sector. Private military companies (PMCs) are becoming a worldwide well-known occurrence. These quite new entities perform tasks in uncommonly blurred situations where the action of pointing out the boundaries between legal and illegal is a demanding job.

The new business branch of security provided by private companies is responsible for handling large amounts of weapons and military equipment. It offers its services in support of military operations enrolling former militaries as civilians to carry out passive or defensive security.

BACKGROUND: This report updates DoD contractor personnel numbers in theater and outlines DoD efforts to improve management of contractors accompanying U.S. forces. It covers DoD contractor personnel deployed in Afghanistan (Operation Freedom’s Sentinel) and the U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) area of responsibility (AOR).

KEY POINTS: In 2nd quarter FY 2015, USCENTCOM reported approximately 45,400 contractor personnel working for the DoD in the USCENTCOM AOR. This total reflects a decrease of approximately 9.3K from the previous quarter. A breakdown of DoD contractor personnel is provided below

RESTON, VA. and DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Constellis Group and Olive Group jointly announced today that the two parties have agreed to merge Olive Group into the existing Constellis Group of Companies. Olive Group will drive the entity's global focus on commercial sectors, and this merger establishes the combined resources and funding to deliver ambitious plans for commercial expansion, to which both parties are committed. The merged entity will leverage Olive Group's market leading position and reputation for new growth.

"We are excited to welcome Olive Group into the Constellis family," said Craig Nixon, CEO of Constellis Group. "The leadership, experience, and capabilities of our combined operations establish us as a full-service risk management, integrated security, and managed services provider with a global presence."

Raymond Associates, a New York-based international firm, has been contracted to provide a broad spectrum of services to the National Salvation Government (NSG) of Tripoli, Libya.

Raymond Associates will provide consultancy services in regards to the establishment of national security architecture initially focused on border security and counter-terrorism efforts. Raymond Associates, working in conjunction with the NSG, will focus on counter-terrorism, illegal immigration, humanitarian aid, private sector development and governance support. The contract calls for Raymond Associates to provide guidance to the NSG as it strengthens and rebuilds local civil and governmental institutions for a free, prosperous and independent Libya.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The White House announced that the U.S. Government will make up to $800 million available to support a New Development Partnership with Afghanistan. The initiative will help Afghanistan achieve self-reliance and reinforce our commitment to results and accountability by linking funds to specific reforms in combating corruption, promoting rule of law, strengthening women’s rights, and enhancing private sector growth.

"Building on the gains of the past 14 yrs., the New Development Partnership will harness a new approach to development--one that embraces the power of local solutions to deliver real, measurable results across Afghanistan," said USAID Acting Administrator Alfonso Lenhardt. "By holding Afghan institutions accountable for achieving results, we will continue to advance equality, unlock opportunity, and strengthen security."

Four years ago, President Barack Obama declared the end of the Iraq war. So much of that fight and our current involvement in the Middle East is carried out by a privatized military.

Back in 2003 Iraq invasion, there was the predictable commentary about why we went to war and what the consequences were. And there was some attention given to the fact that this had been the most privatized military engagement in U.S. history, with private contractors actually outnumbering traditional troops — the “First Contractors’ War,” as Middlebury College scholar Allison Stanger called it in 2009. No one, however, talked about the possibility of a second contractors’ war, a topic that may surface sooner than we anticipated and one that yields a multitude of questions.