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Blackwater founder proposes two-year plan for fewer than 5,000 guns for hire
Erik Prince, the world’s most infamous military contractor, wants his private military forces to give Afghanistan the same treatment he gave Iraq.
In a document dated August 2017, parts of which have been seen by the Financial Times, he proposes a two-year plan for fewer than 5,000 global guns for hire and under 100 aircraft, bringing the total cost of the US effort to turn round a failing war to less than $10bn a year.
“We’re spending too much in Afghanistan and it’s making the insurgency worse, through corruption and leakage to the Taliban,” the former Navy Seal told the FT. On current spending, he said, the Afghan campaign would cost the US $45bn this year and $50bn next.
“I then heard about a big troop surge [proposal] and I thought that was a dumb idea . . . I’m going to contract everything; I’m going to get down to some spending sanity.”
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly rejected Pentagon-backed proposals to send more troops to Afghanistan, delaying a new US strategy to address America’s longest-running war.
Central Intelligence Agency director Mike Pompeo visited Afghanistan last week to assess US strategy and in part to consider how Mr Prince’s proposal might fit into it, according to two people familiar with the matter. The CIA declined to comment.
Mr Prince, the 48-year-old former owner of Blackwater, now called Academi, describes himself as a “disrupter”. He has discussed his ideas with White House officials on several occasions. He proposes putting Afghanistan “through a bankruptcy” and appointing a trustee akin to a viceroy from the days of the British empire.
Mr Prince was once the darling of the US government, which paid his company more than $2bn to provide military support in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
But Blackwater became mired in controversy for the massacre of 14 unarmed Iraqi civilians by the company’s operatives at a Baghdad traffic circle in 2007. Three years later Mr Prince sold the company, which has since twice changed its name. Last week, a US federal appeals court threw out the murder conviction of an ex-Blackwater security guard and ordered more lenient sentences for three others. Mr Prince said that in future military contractors should be tried under the military justice system not federal courts.
The US has more than 8,000 troops in Afghanistan. Pentagon proposals include a minor surge of close to 4,000 more to help stem a resurgent Taliban and support the Kabul government, which controls less than 60 per cent of territory, but Mr Trump is considering total withdrawal.
Those familiar with internal debates say Mr Trump wants to save both manpower and money and avoid getting sucked into the sort of wars he promised the electorate he would avoid.
US secretary of state Rex Tillerson told reporters on Monday the National Security Council had met three times without deciding which course to take.
“The president is asking, I think, some very, very pointed questions, and they are good questions,” he said. He added that the NSC would “take the time to do . . . a fully integrated analysis from the intel community to the military planners to the diplomatic channels as to how does this all play out and where does this go.”
Mr Prince, whose sister is Mr Trump’s education secretary Betsy DeVos, appears to be able to count on support from Steven Bannon, the White House chief strategist who has previously advocated for the “deconstruction of the administrative state”, and at least some in the CIA.
Mr Prince, who expects to present his revised and updated plan to the White House, is critical of the US approach to Afghanistan, whose US-led Nato mission has rotated through 17 commanders in 15 years.
While US soldiers sent to Afghanistan are regularly young, inexperienced and serve only a single short tour, Mr Prince says his band of experienced sergeants would serve alongside Afghan soldiers on the front line for the long haul, embedding into more than 91 battalions.
These contractors would not replace the 2,000-strong US forces operation to combat terrorism, only the US-led Nato advisory mission to the 350,000-strong Afghan national security forces, he said.
Mr Prince proposes they would rotate in for 90 days at a time, returning to the same battalions after 60 days’ leave. Paid $500-$600 a day, the forces would be drawn not only from the US but also from the UK, Germany, France, Sweden, South Africa and Australia, he said.
Some people familiar with the proposal praise its emphasis on efficiency and results though question the ethics and complexities of private military forces, adding that defence secretary Jim Mattis is unlikely to back such a plan.
“If contractors are replacing soldiers and they are on the frontline they could kill or be killed, there could be kidnaps or insider attacks — what happens if they commit a crime or bodies have to be sent back; there would be a large number of legal complications.”
While Afghan officials appreciate the prospect of a boost to their air power, some worry the prospect of a hired army would play into the hands of Taliban recruiters who would frame the war as one against mercenary invaders.
Mr Prince said that his men would be embedded with Afghan counterparts, and planes emblazoned with Afghan insignia, so would not be “mercenaries” according to the UN definition but rather part of the Afghan army.
Afghan ambassador Hamdullah Mohib said the Afghan government had not yet taken a view on the overall direction of US policy: “We are reserving judgment until there is a formal policy decision,” he said.*
But he cautioned the delays are hampering efforts to bring peace in Afghanistan.
“Any lack of clarity about the level of commitment of Afghanistan’s partners tends to embolden our common enemies and delays their defeat,” he said.
Source: https://www.ft.com/content/452253d2-7b8b-11e7-9108-edda0bcbc928?mhq5j=e1
Erik Prince, the world’s most infamous military contractor, wants his private military forces to give Afghanistan the same treatment he gave Iraq.
In a document dated August 2017, parts of which have been seen by the Financial Times, he proposes a two-year plan for fewer than 5,000 global guns for hire and under 100 aircraft, bringing the total cost of the US effort to turn round a failing war to less than $10bn a year.
“We’re spending too much in Afghanistan and it’s making the insurgency worse, through corruption and leakage to the Taliban,” the former Navy Seal told the FT. On current spending, he said, the Afghan campaign would cost the US $45bn this year and $50bn next.
“I then heard about a big troop surge [proposal] and I thought that was a dumb idea . . . I’m going to contract everything; I’m going to get down to some spending sanity.”
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly rejected Pentagon-backed proposals to send more troops to Afghanistan, delaying a new US strategy to address America’s longest-running war.
Central Intelligence Agency director Mike Pompeo visited Afghanistan last week to assess US strategy and in part to consider how Mr Prince’s proposal might fit into it, according to two people familiar with the matter. The CIA declined to comment.
Mr Prince, the 48-year-old former owner of Blackwater, now called Academi, describes himself as a “disrupter”. He has discussed his ideas with White House officials on several occasions. He proposes putting Afghanistan “through a bankruptcy” and appointing a trustee akin to a viceroy from the days of the British empire.
Mr Prince was once the darling of the US government, which paid his company more than $2bn to provide military support in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
But Blackwater became mired in controversy for the massacre of 14 unarmed Iraqi civilians by the company’s operatives at a Baghdad traffic circle in 2007. Three years later Mr Prince sold the company, which has since twice changed its name. Last week, a US federal appeals court threw out the murder conviction of an ex-Blackwater security guard and ordered more lenient sentences for three others. Mr Prince said that in future military contractors should be tried under the military justice system not federal courts.
The US has more than 8,000 troops in Afghanistan. Pentagon proposals include a minor surge of close to 4,000 more to help stem a resurgent Taliban and support the Kabul government, which controls less than 60 per cent of territory, but Mr Trump is considering total withdrawal.
Those familiar with internal debates say Mr Trump wants to save both manpower and money and avoid getting sucked into the sort of wars he promised the electorate he would avoid.
US secretary of state Rex Tillerson told reporters on Monday the National Security Council had met three times without deciding which course to take.
“The president is asking, I think, some very, very pointed questions, and they are good questions,” he said. He added that the NSC would “take the time to do . . . a fully integrated analysis from the intel community to the military planners to the diplomatic channels as to how does this all play out and where does this go.”
Mr Prince, whose sister is Mr Trump’s education secretary Betsy DeVos, appears to be able to count on support from Steven Bannon, the White House chief strategist who has previously advocated for the “deconstruction of the administrative state”, and at least some in the CIA.
Mr Prince, who expects to present his revised and updated plan to the White House, is critical of the US approach to Afghanistan, whose US-led Nato mission has rotated through 17 commanders in 15 years.
While US soldiers sent to Afghanistan are regularly young, inexperienced and serve only a single short tour, Mr Prince says his band of experienced sergeants would serve alongside Afghan soldiers on the front line for the long haul, embedding into more than 91 battalions.
These contractors would not replace the 2,000-strong US forces operation to combat terrorism, only the US-led Nato advisory mission to the 350,000-strong Afghan national security forces, he said.
Mr Prince proposes they would rotate in for 90 days at a time, returning to the same battalions after 60 days’ leave. Paid $500-$600 a day, the forces would be drawn not only from the US but also from the UK, Germany, France, Sweden, South Africa and Australia, he said.
Some people familiar with the proposal praise its emphasis on efficiency and results though question the ethics and complexities of private military forces, adding that defence secretary Jim Mattis is unlikely to back such a plan.
“If contractors are replacing soldiers and they are on the frontline they could kill or be killed, there could be kidnaps or insider attacks — what happens if they commit a crime or bodies have to be sent back; there would be a large number of legal complications.”
While Afghan officials appreciate the prospect of a boost to their air power, some worry the prospect of a hired army would play into the hands of Taliban recruiters who would frame the war as one against mercenary invaders.
Mr Prince said that his men would be embedded with Afghan counterparts, and planes emblazoned with Afghan insignia, so would not be “mercenaries” according to the UN definition but rather part of the Afghan army.
Afghan ambassador Hamdullah Mohib said the Afghan government had not yet taken a view on the overall direction of US policy: “We are reserving judgment until there is a formal policy decision,” he said.*
But he cautioned the delays are hampering efforts to bring peace in Afghanistan.
“Any lack of clarity about the level of commitment of Afghanistan’s partners tends to embolden our common enemies and delays their defeat,” he said.
Source: https://www.ft.com/content/452253d2-7b8b-11e7-9108-edda0bcbc928?mhq5j=e1
