Will President Trump Support Erik Prince's Plan To Privatize The War In Afghanistan?

NBC: Officials worry Trump may back Erik Prince plan to privatize war in Afghanistan

"I know he's frustrated," Blackwater founder Prince said of the president. "He gave the Pentagon what they wanted. And they haven't delivered."

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is increasingly venting frustration to his national security team about the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and showing renewed interest in a proposal by Blackwater founder Erik Prince to privatize the war, current and former senior administration officials said.

Prince's idea, which first surfaced last year during the president's Afghanistan strategy review, envisions replacing troops with private military contractors who would work for a special U.S. envoy for the war who would report directly to the president.

It has raised ethical and security concerns among senior military officials, key lawmakers and members of Trump's national security team. A year after Trump's strategy announcement, his advisers are worried his impatience with the Afghanistan conflict will cause him to seriously consider proposals like Prince's or abruptly order a complete U.S. withdrawal, officials said.

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WNU Editor: I have trouble visualizing how reducing U.S. forces in Afghanistan to 2,000 special forces, 6,000 contractors, and a small air force, will make a difference in this war. But he is right .... the current plan is not working. On a side note. Russia did change the course of the Syrian civil war with less than 10,000 military personnel, backed with a few dozen aircraft/helicopter gunships, artillery, and ground troops from Hezbollah and Iran working with the Syrian Army. If it worked in Syria, maybe a lesser foreign footprint will also work in Afghanistan. But I doubt that Erik Prince's plan will be approved.