| Trump Aides Recruited Erik Prince, Founder of Blackwater, to Devise Options for Afghanistan |
| Tuesday, 11 July 2017 14:52 |
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Except: "President Trump's advisers recruited two businessmen who profited from military contracting to devise alternatives to the Pentagon's plan to send thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan, reflecting the Trump administration's struggle to define its strategy for dealing with a war now 16 years old."
Trump Aides Recruited Erik Prince, Founder of Blackwater, to Devise Options for Afghanistan11 July 17
Erik D. Prince, a founder of the private security firm Blackwater Worldwide, and Stephen A. Feinberg, a billionaire financier who owns the giant military contractor DynCorp International, have developed proposals to rely on contractors instead of American troops in Afghanistan at the behest of Stephen K. Bannon, Mr. Trump’s chief strategist, and Jared Kushner, his senior adviser and son-in-law, according to people briefed on the conversations. On Saturday morning, Mr. Bannon sought out Defense Secretary Jim Mattis at the Pentagon to try to get a hearing for their ideas, an American official said. Mr. Mattis listened politely but declined to include the outside strategies in a review of Afghanistan policy that he is leading along with the national security adviser, Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster. |
resident Trump’s advisers recruited two businessmen who profited from military contracting to devise alternatives to the Pentagon’s plan to send thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan, reflecting the Trump administration’s struggle to define its strategy for dealing with a war now 16 years old.