Are the plans to further the privatization of the Afghan War the best plan, how much will it cost taxpayers and will the stigma of “mercenary” change with more involvement? – PB/TK
Mattis Mulls Plan to Privatize War in Afghanistan – By Brendan McGarry / Aug 15 2017
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said administration officials are mulling the proposal by businessman and former Navy SEAL Erik Prince to surge private security contractors into Afghanistan to take over duties currently performed by U.S. troops.
“The strategic decisions have not been made, but- I don’t know how to put this – I think that’s all I want to say,” Mattis told reporters Monday at the Pentagon. “The strategic decision has not been made.”
The defense secretary added, “It’s part of the options being considered. And the president’s open to the advice of the secretary of state, and myself and the director of the CIA,” referring to Rex Tillerson at State and Mike Pompeo at the Central Intelligence Agency.
Prince, who founded the private security firm Blackwater that was later renamed Xe Services and then Academi, first shared his idea for Afghanistan in a May 31 op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, “The MacArthur Model for Afghanistan,” which called for consolidating authority into a viceroy who would lead coalition efforts in the country.
Continue to military.com article: https://www.dodbuzz.com/2017/08/15/mattis-plan-privatize-war-afghanistan/
