![Erik Prince inserts himself in Afghanistan debate as "solution" / [Screenshot by CNN, cropped, resized via YouTube:https://youtu.be/AXs9SU3nz2c]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2017/8/10/660x290/b_502x220x82/erik-prince-inserts-himself-in-afghanistan-debate-as-solution-screenshot-by-cnn-cropped-resized-via-youtubehttpsyoutubeaxs9su3nz2c_1504051.jpg "Erik Prince inserts himself in Afghanistan debate as \"solution\" / [Screenshot by CNN, cropped, resized via YouTube:https://youtu.be/AXs9SU3nz2c]")
Despite the suggestion from some White House officials that the administration is not interested in hiring Erik Prince's group of mercenaries, it's likely that if the suggestion was made from Trump's chief strategist Steve Bannon, that it's even more likely to be considered.
President Trump's 'focus' on Afghanistan
This is because with recent changes to the White House staff that saw the ouster of some of Bannon's loyalists, a line between Bannon' nationalist extremism and the people he considers to be members of the "deep state" has been drawn. It was reported recently that President Trump has reportedly considered firing a commander in Afghanistan in order to replace them with Lt.
Gen. H.R. McMaster. Reasons for this center around the reporting of President Trump clashing with his national security advisers over Afghanistan.
Erik Prince's pitch to the U.S.
While the President appears to be frustrated over the fact that American troops are there, Erik Prince has been trying to make himself the solution and pitching the White House to support his army of mercenaries. His "pitch" was reportedly to install a viceroy in Afghanistan. But he also wants to do this by sending thousands of his mercenaries to play a combat role and give orders to troops in order to win the war in Afghanistan. Prince believes that after being there for 16-years, his army would be able to get the job done but currently it appears that Bannon and his loyalists are the only ones who have taken interest in the pitch.
USA Today reported in an article titled: "War In Afghanistan: Trump White House weighs bold plan to privatize it" that McMaster and Jim Mattis -- who is the Secretary of Defense -- reject the plan at the very least until they see a more precise policy agenda from the President. While John Kelly's new role as White House Chief of Staff would not be involved with those decisions, his restructuring of the functions of the White House were already likely to kill support for Prince's plan and there are logistical reasons for this.
Momentum against Erik Prince
One is that Kelly's support for McMaster has already played a part in booting out Bannon loyalists who support the idea of Prince's privatized mercenary army. Another reason is that in Kelly's restructuring, he reportedly wants aides to push agendas that they have experience with and are not based off of or triggered by some ideological stance or isolated agenda.
This would mean that his focus on advancing the institution would go against that support.
Even more, the Pentagon has already said that they are against the plan. This was not the case before when Prince was able to get their support under the Bush administration for the war in Iraq. At the time, he was able to operate his Black Water firm which were accused of killing innocent Iraqi civilians. The Pentagon said that for Prince to hire mercenaries from different countries on the cheap, lower quality and were not interested.
