Mediaboss Marketing

President Trump is reportedly worried we're losing the Afghanistan war. But tensions in the White House have made it hard to settle on a war strategy. Video provided by Newsy Newslook

Afghan security official stands guard on a road side check point in Herat, Afghanistan, on Aug. 3, 2017. 2017. Security has been intensified after a deadly bombing of a Shi'ite Muslims Mosque by the Islamic State militants.(Photo: Jalil Rezayee, EPA)

The White House is actively considering abold plan to turn over a big chunkof the U.S. war in Afghanistan toprivate contractors in an effort to turn the tide in a stalemated war, according to theformer head of a security firm pushingthe project.

Under the proposal,5,500 private contractors, primarily former Special Operations troops, would advise Afghan combat forces. The plan also includesa 90-plane private air force that would provide air support in the nearly 16-year-old war against Taliban insurgents, Erik Prince, founderof the Blackwater security firm, told USA TODAY.

The unprecedented proposal comes as the U.S.-backed Afghan militaryfaces a stalemate in the war and growing frustration by President Trump about the lack of progress in the war.

The U.S. military has 8,400 U.S. troops there to train and guide local forces.They do not have a direct combat role, and presumably would be replaced gradually by the contractors.

Erik Prince is a former Navy SEAL officer and founder of Blackwater USA. He is chairman of the Frontier Services Group, a logistics company focused on Africa and South Asia.(Photo: Oxford Union, REX, Shutterstock, via AP)

The plan remains under seriousconsideration within the White House despite misgivings byTrump's national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, an Army three-stargeneral, and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. Other White House officials, such as chief strategist Stephen Bannon, appear open to using private contractors.

At what point do you say a conventional military approach in Afghanistan is not working, said Prince, a former Navy SEAL. Maybe we say that at 16 years.

Blackwater, founded 1997, worked extensively in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Prince sold the company in 2010.

The White House did not respond to requests for comment.

Prince said the plan will cost less than $10 billion a year, significantly lower than the more than $40billion the Pentagon has budgeted this year.

The prospectof accomplishing more with less money could appeal to a careerbusinessman like Trump.

Prince, who has met frequently with administration officials to discuss his plan, is the brother of Trump's education secretary, Betsy Devos.

Under his proposal, private advisers would work directly with Afghanistan combat battalions throughout the country, and the air force would be used for medical evacuation, fire support and ferrying troops.

Prince said the contractorswould be adjuncts of the Afghan military and would wear thatnations military uniforms. Pilots would only drop ordnance with Afghan government approval, he said.

Currently, troops from a U.S.-led coalitionare stationed primarily at top level headquarters and are not embedded with conventional combat units in the field. Under the plan the contractors would be embedded with Afghanistan's more than 90 combat battalions throughout the country.

Opinion: Erik Prince says restructure the war in Afghanistan

More: Trump stalls decision over troop increase in Afghanistan amid war strategy debate

The coalition sharply curtailed air support it provides Afghanistan forces by 2014, when government forces tookover most war-fighting responsibilities, leaving major gaps in the Afghan military's ability to provide air support.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson acknowledged this week that the White House is looking for a new strategy to bring America's longest war to an end.

To just say were going to keep doing what weve been doing, the president is not willing to accept that, and so he is asking some tough questions, Tillerson said Monday in Manila during an Asia trip.

U.S. troops invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 to oust agovernment run by Taliban extremists whoprovidedsafe haven to al-Qaeda terrorists responsible for the 9/11 attacks.

The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Nicholson, has recommended that several thousand more troops be deployed to Afghanistan, primarily to bolster the advisory mission and help turn the tide against the Taliban.

Mattis has indicated he doesnt want to make a decision on troop levels until an overall strategy has been approved. But the way forward is still under debate at the White House.

The president doesnt own the Afghan effort yet, Prince said of a war that frustrated Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Hes about to (with) whatever decision he makes next.

Prince rejects criticism that he and others would profit from it. He saidit would represent a cost savings for American taxpayers. The idea of innovation and risk taking is certainly part of America, he said.

Blackwater hasattracted controversy under Prince's leadership. In 2007, four Blackwater security personnelwere accused of killing 14 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad. Last week an appeals court overturned a murder conviction for one of the guards and ordered the other three to be re-sentenced.

Blackwater was renamed Xe Services two years after the incident thatsparked international outrage. The privately owned company is now Academi.

Tens of thousands of contractorswere used in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.Blackwaterwas hired to protect American diplomats in Iraq, whileother contractors were used in support functions, such as providing food and supplies to U.S. troops. The U.S. military rarely deploys anywhere now without a contingent of contractors.

A close parallel to Prince's proposal in U.S. history may be the Flying Tigers, a group formedbefore the United States entered World War II. The Flying Tigers were formed covertly from the ranks of U.S. military pilots, whoresigned from the service and were hired by a private contractor and sent to China to defend against Japanese aggression.

Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2wErDDt

View post:
Trump White House weighs unprecedented plan to privatize much of the war in Afghanistan - USA TODAY

Children pray after releasing paper lanterns on the Motoyasu river facing the Atomic Bomb Dome in remembrance of atomic bomb victims on the 72nd anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, western Japan.

REUTERS

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L), accompanied by defence minister Sergei Shoigu, gestures as he fishes in the remote Tuva region in southern Siberia.

AFP/Getty Images

A family claiming to be from Haiti drag their luggage over the US-Canada border into Canada from Champlain, New York, U.S. August 3, 2017.

Reuters

A disabled man prepares to cast his vote at a polling station in Kigali, Rwanda, August 4, 2017

Reuters

ATTENTION EDITORS -People carry the body of Yawar Nissar, a suspected militant, who according to local media was killed during a gun battle with Indian security forces at Herpora village, during his funeral in south Kashmir's Anantnag district August 4, 2017.

Reuters

A general view shows a flooded area in Sakon Nakhon province, Thailand August 4, 2017.

Reuters

A plane landed in Sao Joao Beach, killing two people, in Costa da Caparica, Portugal August 2, 2017

Reuters

Hermitage Capital CEO William Browder waits to testify before a continuation of Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 27, 2017

Reuters

TOPSHOT - Moto taxi driver hold flags of the governing Rwanda Patriotic Front's at the beginning of a parade in Kigali, on August 02, 2017. Incumbent Rwandan President Paul Kagame will close his electoral campaigning ahead of the August 4, presidential elections which he is widely expected to win giving him a third term in office

AFP

TOPSHOT - Migrants wait to be rescued by the Aquarius rescue ship run by non-governmental organisations (NGO) "SOS Mediterranee" and "Medecins Sans Frontieres" (Doctors Without Borders) in the Mediterranean Sea, 30 nautic miles from the Libyan coast, on August 2, 2017.

AFP

Two children hold a placard picturing a plane as they take part in a demonstration in central Athens outside the German embassy with others refugees and migrants to protest against the limitation of reunification of families in Germany, on August 2, 2017.

AFP

Flames erupt as clashes break out while the Constituent Assembly election is being carried out in Caracas, Venezuela, July 30, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

Reuters

People in the village of Gabarpora carry the remains of Akeel Ahmad Bhat, a civilian who according to local media died following clashes after two militants were killed in an encounter with Indian security forces in Hakripora in south Kashmir's Pulwama district, August 2, 2017. REUTERS/Danish Ismail

Reuters

- Incumbent Rwandan President Paul Kagame gestures as he arrives for the closing rally of the presidential campaign in Kigali, on August 2, 2017 while supporters greet him. Rwandans go the polls on August 4, 2017 in a presidential election in which strongman Paul Kagame is widely expected to cruise to a third term in office.

AFP

Soldiers of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) get ready for the military parade to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the foundation of the army at Zhurihe military training base in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China.

REUTERS

Cyclists at the start of the first stage of the Tour de Pologne cycling race, over 130km from Krakow's Main Market Square, Poland

EPA

Israeli border guards keep watch as Palestinian Muslim worshippers pray outside Jerusalem's old city overlooking the Al-Aqsa mosque compound

Ahmad Gharabli/AFP

A supporter of Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif passes out after the Supreme Court's decision to disqualify Sharif in Lahore

Reuters/Mohsin Raza

Australian police officers participate in a training scenario called an 'Armed Offender/Emergency Exercise' held at an international passenger terminal located on Sydney Harbour

Reuters/David Gray

North Korean soldiers watch the south side as the United Nations Command officials visit after a commemorative ceremony for the 64th anniversary of the Korean armistice at the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) dividing the two Koreas

Reuters/Jung Yeon-Je

Bangladeshi commuters use a rickshaw to cross a flooded street amid heavy rainfall in Dhaka. Bangladesh is experiencing downpours following a depression forming in the Bay of Bengal.

Munir Uz Zaman/AFP

The Soyuz MS-05 spacecraft for the next International Space Station (ISS) crew of Paolo Nespoli of Italy, Sergey Ryazanskiy of Russia, and Randy Bresnik of the U.S., is transported from an assembling hangar to the launchpad ahead of its upcoming launch, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan

Reuters/Shamil Zhumatov

A protester shouts at U.S. President Donald Trump as he is removed from his rally with supporters in an arena in Youngstown, Ohio

Reuters

Indian supporters of Gorkhaland chant slogans tied with chains during a protest march in capital New Delhi. Eastern India's hill resort of Darjeeling has been rattled at the height of tourist season after violent clashes broke out between police and hundreds of protesters of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) a long-simmering separatist movement that has long called for a separate state for ethnic Gorkhas in West Bengal. The GJM wants a new, separate state of "Gorkhaland" carved out of eastern West Bengal state, of which Darjeeling is a part.

Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty Images

Demonstrators clash with riot security forces while rallying against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela. The banner on the bridge reads "It will be worth it"

Reuters

The Heathcote river as it rises to high levels in Christchurch, New Zealand. Heavy rain across the South Island in the last 24 hours has caused widespread damage and flooding with Dunedin, Waitaki, Timaru and the wider Otago region declaring a state of emergency.

Getty Images

A mourner prays at a memorial during an event to commemorate the first anniversary of the shooting spree that one year ago left ten people dead, including the shooter in Munich, Germany. One year ago 18-year-old student David S. shot nine people dead and injured four others at and near a McDonalds restaurant and the Olympia Einkaufszentrum shopping center. After a city-wide manhunt that caused mass panic and injuries David S. shot himself in a park. According to police David S., who had dual German and Iranian citizenship, had a history of mental troubles.

Getty

Palestinians react following tear gas that was shot by Israeli forces after Friday prayer on a street outside Jerusalem's Old City

Reuters/Ammar Awad

Ousted former Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra greets supporters as she arrives at the Supreme Court in Bangkok, Thailand

Reuters/Athit Perawongmetha

Marek Suski of Law and Justice (PiS) (C) party scuffles with Miroslaw Suchon (2nd L) of Modern party (.Nowoczesna) as Michal Szczerba of Civic Platform (PO) (L) party holds up a copy of the Polish Constitution during the parliamentary Commission on Justice and Human Rights voting on the opposition's amendments to the bill that calls for an overhaul of the Supreme Court in Warsaw

Reuters

A firefighter stands near a grass fire as he prepares to defend a home from the Detwiler fire in Mariposa, California

Reuters

Michael Lindell ,CEO of My Pillow reacts as U.S. President Donald Trump attends a Made in America roundtable meeting in the East Room of the White House

Reuters

Giant pandas lie beside ice blocks at Yangjiaping Zoo in Chongqing, China. Yangjiaping Zoo provided huge ice blocks for giant pandas to help them remove summer heat

Getty Images

People ride camels in the desert in Dunhuang, China, as stage 10 of The Silkway Rally continues

AFP/Getty Images

17th FINA World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary. Team North Korea practice under coach supervision

REUTERS

IAAF World ParaAthletics Championships - London, Britain - July 17, 2017

Reuters/Henry Browne

Workers check power lines during maintenance work in Laian, in China's eastern Anhui province

AFP/Getty Images

Russia Kamaz's driver Dmitry Sotnikov, co-drivers Ruslan Akhmadeev and Ilnur Mustafin compete during the Stage 9 of the Silk Way 2017 between Urumqi and Hami, China

Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull talks with Special Operations Command soldiers during a visit to the Australian Army's Holsworthy Barracks in western Sydney

AAP/Brendan Esposito/via Reuters

Men in traditional sailor costumes celebrate after carrying a statue of the El Carmen Virgin, who is worshipped as the patron saint of sailors, into the Mediterranean Sea during a procession in Torremolinos, near Malaga, Spain

Reuters/Jon Nazca

People participate in a protest in front of the Sejm building (the lower house of the Polish parliament) in Warsaw, Poland. The demonstration was organized by Committee for the Defense of Democracy (KOD). Members and supporters of the KOD and opposition parties protested against changes in the judicial law and the Supreme Court

EPA

People prepare to swim with a portrait of late Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong on the bank of the Yangtze River in Yichang, Hubei province, China to celebrate the 51st anniversary of Chairman Mao swimming in the Yangtze River.

REUTERS

A woman takes a selfie picture with her mobile phone next to the statue of Omer Halisdemir in Istanbul, in front of a memorial with the names of people killed last year during the failed coup attempt .

AFP/Getty Images

French President Emmanuel Macron gestures next to US President Donald Trump during the annual Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris.

AFP/Getty Images

Philippine National Police chief Ronald Bato Dela Rosa holds an M60 machine gun during a Gun and Ammunition show at a mall in Mandaluyong city, metro Manila, Philippines

Reuters

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker embrace before the EU-Ukraine summit in Kiev, Ukraine

Reuters

US President Donald Trump (R) and First Lady Melania Trump disembark form Air Force One upon arrival at Paris Orly airport on July 13, 2017, beginning a 24-hour trip that coincides with France's national day and the 100th anniversary of US involvement in World War I

Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Iraqis walk on a damaged street in west Mosul a few days after the government's announcement of the liberation of the embattled city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters

Getty

Iraqi boys wash a vehicle in west Mosul a few days after the government's announcement of the liberation of the embattled city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters

Fadel Senna/AFP/Getty Images

Afghan policeman pour fuel over jerry cans containing confiscated acetic acid before setting it alight on the outskirts of Herat. Some 15,000 liters of acetic acid, often mixed with heroin, were destroyed by counter narcotics police

Hoshang Hashimi/AFP

See the original post:
Isis and Taliban join forces in deadly attack in Afghanistan - The Independent

Erik Prince Published 7:02 p.m. ET Aug. 7, 2017

Erik Prince is a former Navy SEAL officer and founder of Blackwater USA. He is chairman of the Frontier Services Group, a logistics company focused on Africa and South Asia.(Photo: Oxford Union, REX, Shutterstock, via AP)

The war in Afghanistan is the longest in U.S. history. Despite the loss of more than 2,400 American lives and costs of $1 trillion, the United States is losing. Even Defense Secretary James Mattis confirms that coalition forces are not winning.

President Trump inherited the quagmire and has the complex task of sorting it out and bringing our troops home.

The option to simply abandon Afghanistan is enticing but in the long run would be a foreign policy disaster. The Kabul government would collapse. Afghanistan would be a rallying cry for global jihadists.

The present conventional strategy has proved ineffective. Repeating the prior troop surge also has appeal. The surge reduced Taliban influence, but the Taliban returned as troops withdrew. Furthermore, it is simply too expensive to maintain a long-term, large-scale military presence. Luckily, there is a another option.

The president can restructure the war, similar to a bankruptcy reorganization. By aligning U.S. efforts under a presidential envoy, all strategic decisions regarding humanitarian aid, military support and intelligence become laser-focused on creating a stable, self-supporting Afghanistan. Stability would give our troops an exit ramp. The envoys focus would be to support Afghan security forces from within, providing professional military leadership, reliable air support and business administration assistance. Those resources would be procured in precisely the way U.S. forces acquire material and manpower support. They hire it.

OUR VIEW:President Trump, U.S. troops need Afghanistan War strategy

This has already proved effective in Afghanistan. U.S. special operations teams have created effective commando battalions by embedding and working with them. The same can be done on a larger scale, but the U.S. Army lacks enough special forces to do this and maintain mission readiness. Outside assistance is required.

This approach would cost less than 20% of the $48 billion being spent in Afghanistan this year. Trump was hired to remake our government. There is no greater need for a restructuring than in Afghanistan.

Erik Prince is a former Navy SEAL officer and founder of Blackwater USA. He is chairman of the Frontier Services Group, a logistics company focused on Africa and South Asia.

Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2ujg6bU

The rest is here:
Erik Prince: 'Restructure' the Afghanistan War - USA TODAY

Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani addresses U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis and his delegation at the Presidential Palace in Kabul, Afghanistan April 24, 2017.

The clock is ticking for President Ashraf Ghani to protect the rights of the Afghanistans many torture victims.

In March, the government finally enacted the Anti-Torture Law after years of political and bureaucratic battles. However, the law left out a system for restitution, rehabilitation, and compensation for victims of torture by state security forces. This Redress Annex, drafted by the Justice Ministry in cooperation with nongovernmental organizations in the Detention Working Group, was completed July. It is an essential element missing from the Anti-Torture Law, and President Ghani can rectify the error by adding it by decree.

This annex is sorely needed. Torture by Afghan security forces is routine and systematic. The United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan issued a report in April that is a damning indictment of the governments failure to take effective action against torture and other ill-treatment. The report found that the highest levels of torture of conflict-related detainees in police custody since it began monitoring detentions in 2010 was in 2015-16. Police in Kandahar province tortured or mistreated a staggering 91 percent of detainees by forcibly pumping water into their stomachs, crushing their testicles with clamps, suffocating them to the point of losing consciousness, and applying electric current to their genitals, among other practices.

In May, the UN Committee Against Torture, armed with the new UN report, questioned an Afghan government delegation about why very few police officers are ever disciplined for abuse, and why not a single senior officer in the Afghan police or National Directorate for Security intelligence agency has been prosecuted for torture or other mistreatment. The committee also asked the delegation about the governments failure to provide statistics on complaints of torture and torture investigations. The committee also wondered why the governments written response neglected to mention accountability at all given the delegations claim that ending impunity was a priority.

The pervasiveness of torture in Afghanistan makes its criminalization and the prosecution of alleged torturers an urgent priority. But the government also needs to enshrine in law the rights of torture victims to redress for their suffering. While waiting for prosecutors to act, a compensation system would create a new avenue for holding the government accountable. President Ghani should prevent any further delays by making sure that happens.

See the original post here:
Afghanistan's Torture Victims Deserve Redress - Human Rights Watch

A U.S. Marine, left, watches Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers during training in Helmand province, Afghanistan on July 5, 2017. Omar Sobhani / Reuters

There are currently more than 300 Marines assigned to Task Force Southwest, and the total additional force is less than 100 marines, the officials said. The Marines will deploy from the Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force Crisis Response Central Command, already based in the region. The officials would not say where the marines would deploy from specifically, with one saying, "we are redirecting them from where they're at now to help with the mission."

The officials said this deployment is not

Related:

In June President Trump delegated the authority to deploy troops to Afghanistan to Secretary of Defense James Mattis, but in this case Mattis did not need to sign off on the deployment, one of the officials said.

"The commander on the ground has the authority to move people in theater around," the official said.

Related:

A spokesperson for Marine Corps Forces Central Command would not confirm the deployment, saying, "The repositioning and movement of forces in the CENTCOM [area of responsibility], to include presently deployed Marines, happen at the discretion of the CENTCOM Commander," adding "at this time there are no plans to deploy CONUS based Marines into Afghanistan," using the acronym for Continental United States.

The defense officials said there is also a request for more U.S. air support in Afghanistan, but none of them would provide detail on what is needed and why. The additional air assets have not yet been deployed.

Go here to see the original:
US Is Sending More Marines to Afghanistan - NBCNews.com