The founder of the notorious, and now defunct, Blackwater, has been making headlines for trying to privatise the Afghan war. What has gone unreported are his plans as "Trump's advisor" to extract the country's immensely rich mineral wealth.
Private military contractors offering armies for hire emerged as a powerful stakeholder in the business of war. Governments can outsource compartmentalised jobs to mercenaries or private security contractors, without much international oversight.
Erik Prince, a former US Navy SEAL whose sister Betsy De Vos serves as Education Secretary in the Trump administration, has been lobbying officials about his proposal to privatise parts of US military operations in Afghanistan for more than a year.
US businessman Erik Prince and an unnamed Russian official met in a bid to establish back-channel communications between the US and Russian administrations, The Washington Post reports. The UAE brokered the meeting in January, according to the Post.
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