Part of the company once known as Blackwater Worldwide has been awarded a more than $120 million contract to protect new U.S. consulates in the Afghan cities of Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif, the U.S. Embassy said Saturday.
The United States Training Center, a business unit of the former Blackwater, now called Xe Services, was awarded the contract Friday, embassy spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said.
The company won the contract over two other American firms -- Triple Canopy and DynCorps International, she said. The one-year contract can be extended twice for three months each for a maximum of 18 months.
Under the name Blackwater, the Moyock, North Carolina-based company provided guards and services to the U.S. government in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere but came under sharp criticism for its heavy-handed tactics in those missions.
It has been trying to rehabilitate its image since a 2007 shooting in Baghdad's Nisoor Square that killed 17 people, outraged the Iraqi government and led to federal charges against several Blackwater guards.
More...
The fee would effectively allow Iran to cement its sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, but...
Mustafa Al-Shawa awoke at 2:30 a.m. on Monday to the sound of gunfire and the rumble...
Iran has announced plans to introduce a system of maritime fees in the strait of Hormuz...
Of all the military failures the US has suffered in the past 25 years in the...
