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...
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei on Wednesday said his country has not decided whether to...
10-day pause in hostilities in Lebanon began on Thursday last week. But since then, Israeli army commanders...
President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he would extend the ceasefire with Iran until the country...
An image showing an Israeli soldier using a jackhammer to smash a statue of Jesus on...
