BLACKWATER FOUNDER TOUTS PLAN TO REPLACE TROOPS IN AFGHANISTAN WITH PRIVATE US ARMY
▶ Erik Prince sees new opening to persuade President Donald Trump to change course on 17-year Afghan war
Mr Prince remains adamant that his industry can be part of the solution to long-running conflicts
Blackwater founder Erik Prince believes he has an “audience of one” to persuade to back his plan to turn over the war effort in Afghanistan to an army of private contractors supported by its own air force in a move that would lead to US and Nato forces being largely withdrawn.
The former US Navy Seal, 49, told a briefing in London that he could cut the cost of US policy in Afghanistan from $52 billion (Dh191bn) a year to a little over $10bn.
Mr Prince is calling on President Donald Trump to scrap the Afghan plan that his government launched exactly a year ago today. The centrepiece of the Prince proposal is a reduction in the US troop presence in the country to 2,000 from the 16,000 there today.
A new strategy would allow 6,000 contractors to work on three-year deals to provide a skeleton support staff for the Afghan National Army. A fleet of 90 combat aircraft would provide backup for the deployments. He believes Mr Trump is open to the idea.
Having sold Blackwater (a private security contractor now known as Academi), Mr Prince runs the Frontier Service Group and has become identified with a radical blueprint to rip up the whole approach to the 17-year conflict.
“We may disagree on the methods but I think there is one thing we would all like to agree on – the end of war in Afghanistan,” he said. “We were almost there last summer. The national security apparatus said [to President Trump] you can pull out and Afghanistan will melt down like Iraq.”
The Prince plan was opposed by the US National Security Adviser at the time, H R McMaster, and James Mattis, the US Secretary of Defence. Weeks later they released a strategy which increased the number of US troops and scrapped a timeline for withdrawal left over from the Obama government.
“The president gave them more money and more troops and they promised results and there’s no results,” Mr Prince said.
With US officials reportedly meeting the Taliban for exploratory peace talks, Mr Prince was scornful of the prospect of a successful outcome.
“We need to go back to tactical innovation and deviousness,” he said. “The Taliban are not commuting to war, we are.
“There’s not going to be a Versailles moment, they’re not going to line up and surrender or reconcile. The Taliban would be very willing to accept our surrender.”
Eleven years after Blackwater’s name forever became associated with the deaths of 17 civilians in an uncontrolled shooting spree in Baghdad’s Nisour Square, Mr Prince remained adamant that his industry can be part of the solution to long-running conflicts.
“The Blackwater name got so tarnished and so blown out by one event in Iraq,” he said. “In the Iraq war, the anti-war left went after the contractors.”
With proper mentoring from dedicated military veterans and basic support, such as medical evacuation for injured troops, Mr Prince also believes Afghanistan’s security forces could perform better.
“Men will fight harder when they know someone will look after them,” he said.
The length of the war is Mr Prince’s main criticism of the US involvement. “I am not ready for multigenerational war. I have two sons who will probably follow my footsteps and join the service. The idea of them going to Afghanistan to get blown up or dead – no way.”
Although he has not engaged with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on his idea – instead he touted a video he made to sell his plan in the Dari language – Mr Prince brushed off the idea that it is not politically feasible.
With Mr McMaster replaced by John Bolton, a sceptic of large overseas troop deployments, there is one less brake on Mr Trump to follow his instincts when shown the Prince plan.
“As much scoffing as I got last year when I predicted another year of the same results, there’s not as much this year,” he said. “If they keep doing the same thing, I’m not going away.”