US Troops Withdrawal Could Satisfy Erik Prince’s Afghanistan Mission
As the deeply-flawed former President of the United States, Donald Trump, bid good-bye to the White House, the American policies have swirled as per the wish of Joe Biden’s Democratic wand. However, he refused to cast a spell on Trump’s decision around America’s longest war in Afghanistan.
In the second half of his presidency, Trump began to make serious efforts to fulfill his campaign promise of bringing back the US troops from Afghanistan. In the wake of that, his administration and the Taliban struck a deal committing to withdraw the US troops by May 2021. However, the US government sought an assurance from the Taliban to not allow al-Qaeda or other extremist groups to operate in the areas they controlled.
Joe Biden disappointed a number of individuals and entities who was at odds, as he moved ahead with Trump’s withdrawal declaring, “It is time to end America’s longest war.” However, not all terms of the former President’s plans were accepted. The Biden administration started to pull out the American and NATO troops from Afghanistan on the pre-decided time by Trump’s agreement with the Taliban. The withdrawal was scheduled to be completed by September 11, 2021.
Although the US plans to officially end the American military presence in Afghanistan, chances that private sector forces could continue to operate there. Particularly, the private military personnel hired by a company linked to Erik Prince, the founder of controversial mercenary firm Blackwater, could replace the US troops soon after the September deadline.
Through a chain of companies that ultimately reaches Prince has been involved in fulfilling the mission of privatizing the war in Afghanistan by taking it over from the US military. Triple Canopy, a private security company under the parent company Constellis, has been hiring armed guards to take over the sites that will be vacated by the US troops on this year’s 9/11.
A privately-held American defense and security company, Constellis also owns Academi, which is a new name of Blackwater. The connection of private military in Afghanistan to Erik Prince leaves a grave threat that goes back to 2017, when he pitched the Trump administration to hire him. In his 2017 pitch, Prince had made a commercial promise of mining some of the provinces in Afghanistan and stealing away their minerals like magnesite, lithium, uranium and other rare earth elements.
Erik Prince, who moved to Abu Dhabi in 2010, has often been surrounded with controversies. In the 2016 Russian meddling of the US presidential elections, Prince was involved in the Seychelles meeting between the UAE’s defacto ruler Mohammed bin Zayed and Kirill Dmitriev. His well-known links to the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince MbZ have been used to supply illegal weapons and mercenaries to support the forces of militia leader Khalifa Haftar in the Libya war.
As the US will now withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, the future is completely uncertain. Years back, Prince’s pitch and intentions to steal the rare minerals of the Asian nation appeared to benefit the US. However, as he would now have a clear way to finally enter America’s longest war, the real motives are hard to assess.
