From Richard Sinnreich in the Lawton Constitution:

As the war in Afghanistan rolls into its tenth year with no end in sight, a problem foreseen several years ago by military concept writers has begun to materialize. It has to do with the growing competition between governmental and non-governmental relief and civil development organizations.

Although the presence of private humanitarian organizations on the battlefield dates back a very long time -- the Red Cross, for example, staffed hospitals and ambulance companies on the battlefields of France during World War I -- their number and diversity has exploded during the past few decades.

One source has estimated that 40,000 such organizations are at work in the world today, although far fewer are willing or able to operate in active war zones. Even so, the on-line "Afghanistan Analyst" (http://afghanistan-analyst.org/ngo.aspx) counts more than 200 humanitarian relief organizations present in Afghanistan alone, ranging from Oxfam and Doctors Without Borders to a Dutch committee for Afghanistan Veterinary programs.
The entire article is available here.