The Common Good: Erik Prince - "Rethinking the Afghanistan War"

Erik Prince
Chairman of Frontier Services Group
"Rethinking the Afghanistan War"
Tuesday, October 3, 2017
Erik Prince is an American businessman and former U.S. Navy SEAL officer best known for founding the government services and security company Blackwater USA, now known as Academi. He served as its CEO until 2009 and later as chairman, until Blackwater Worldwide was sold in 2010 to a group of investors. Prince currently heads the private equity firm Frontier Resource Group and is chairman of Hong Kong-listed Frontier Services Group Ltd. He lives in both Middleburg, Virginia and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

[@llee8325]

I will listen to anything from this man. Such a grounded, intelligent, perspicacious professional. He would make a great President. We so sorely need his wisdom these days. Of course, he is hated by the short-sighted, inept political class in our gov't.

[@growthefarmup2606]

This speech aged very well. Well done Mr Prince. If only someone would have listened!!! A breath of competence and fresh air in a totally incompetent U.S strategy. Too bad they threw him and Blackwater logistics outta the county. Listen to this speech folks and know your listening to a ecperienced leader that knows his sh!+!!!

[@rizwansaleem9613]

This man is a genius

[@keimo2007]

27:14 Sweden isn't NATO country... that said, i think Princes plan sounds promising, i hope POTUS tries it! Maintaining status que after 17-years isn't option.

[@bensonfang1868]

@PakMan well he’s actually working for the Afghan government

[@stellarmella9557]

erik prince might be a controversial figure, BUT his Afghanistan strategy proposal was prbably the best strategy (both cost and effect wise) that the US could have applied. Other than the use of SOF and SO contractors, the plan to open the mining industry and employ Afghans couldve taken alot of manpower from the Taliban (since many were not hardline militants but rather just became it out of convenience, read Kilcullen's Accidental Guerilla) It was no guarantee that they'll win (whatever the fuck the definition of victory maybe) but it is almost impossible to lose, plus it was billions cheaper than the then US strategy

[@InayetHadi]

Maybe do an A/B test with a select group of companies in the Afghan army and see how they perform .

[@perseus9428]

43:35 to 44:00 Whomever reads this.... Please share this with your friends who vilify this guy. I'm not that conservative. I despise Fox News and the brainless hordes that it influences and profits from. I'm quite against a lot of conservative right wing idiocy. I just try to absorb information without prejudice. I started researching Eric Prince after watching a series of videos on "Mercenaries". To my surprise , and against almost all coverage by the media, I have found Prince to be logical and his arguments fact based. But what's the most significant is that I have noticed he has been right about just about every predication he's made about the US wars of our time. It's really too bad that our "News" Media is only in the business of profiteering and serving their shadowy owners' interests. The US has failed on just about every international front , under administrations on either side. The fault lies with an ignorant and illiterate populace who are manipulated by the media to vote incompetents and charlatans into office. Most Americans can't handle truths that make them uncomfortable. Paramount among those truths is the fact that the military complex has failed America on countless occasions and we, the tax payers, would have been far better served by having contracted out Afghanistan and even Iraq to intelligent people with experience and skin in the game .... People like this man.

[@keithesaf08]

Pathetic introduction by that old geezer, but good speach by Erik Prince.

[@bobphong4409]

They needed a middle man to introduce Erik Prince.

[@MichaelBrown-lw5zh]

Why is this guy getting tax payer money? He's not accountable to anyone, and he hires the most unquiliufied pilots has cost American lives, was caught in Afghanistan partying in the desert drunk popping bottles o alcohol, and getting paid more tha the Americans. Cowboys!

[@MichaelBrown-lw5zh]

@PakMan Yea of you're derpendant on government!

[@75Prelives]

Are you the most unqualified speller? Hooked on phonics works! You have proof of your claims of partying in the desert? Or of costing American lives? Heavy allegations but I’m sure you have proof tho. Keep drinking that leftist koolaid while you collect your welfare from the “gubbmint”. Comments are full of clowns with their bullsht mouth diarrhea.

[@itsnotatoober]

Listening to the introduction causes you to get aids. Dont do it

[@jsocdelta82]

I won't break literally EVERT aspect of the NDA that we had to sign but I promise, security contracted professionals have saved our rears closer to home than most would want to even discuss...Iranian proxies, Russian fmr GRU & Wagner thugs in places like Baja/Mex etc places I can't get into, but yes, even Russian trained via Quds/Hez affiliate proxies (like the dozens causing havoc in Venezuela) and btw, these are guys who just were overseeing Chechens cutting throats of surrendering Ukrainian teenagers! They are in Afghanistan giving night vision and 4th gen gear to the Taliban "Red Squads" (key word, "Red", do you think Western intel and media randomly assigned that color to these groups?)

[@jsocdelta82]

*Those "Red groups" are Wagner Group funded Taliban. You say you have a problem w/assisting those folks who spent near two decades dying alongside our guys but you won't even give them, or anyone like Kraft Intl a chance to solve the problem? There are other nation states who WILL do this, & kill every farmer that ever helped us..You really think Taliban w/night vision, high tech optics on their weapons is impossible? Google red teams of Taliban (or "Red Squad etc) cuz, just like Pak ISI, Russian proxy PMCs who make Blackwater's prev mistakes? Look like a day on the beach compared to what the Russ PMCs do today (as I said, I won't break NDAs but this boy cryin' wolf here, this is violence not seen outside of ISIS themselves and it's linked right back to extremely terrifying origin points)...It's the same in the Venezuelan units who are actually trying to free up their regional AOs (they don't care about what Trump does or doesn't do, they just wanna not be wiped out over night) but if you tie their hands like we did the Ukrainians? Did you see the videos of the divisions that don't exist as we (Obama admin at the time, but it any beltway dickhead would've done this, right or left) told them not to shoot back at the Russian backed units? Look up what Russian PMCs and Chechens did because of it at the aiport in Donetsk..These Afghans? The Venezuelans? It's not world policing, they already die waiting for help that we never send! Esp in L. America, the Venezuelans are in deep, and are ready to fight (not as U.S proxies, just for their themselves) but can't as they'd get pummeled by their own guys backed by Russian and Iranian elements (yes who I know as I SAW the evidence of these two groups permeating all the way up to Mex in 2009, and are still "around", believe me). Give these regions a chance before you write it off as Iraq part 2.*

[@jsocdelta82]

..if we don't? You all won't soon have that cozy armchair to watch videos from safely and monday morning quarterback all our guys and our allies are trying to stop. I ain't warning of some Russian invasion, or Pak, or Iranian one, but they will do a lot of direct action, and go as kinetic via proxy as need be (all of them) to stop these nations continuously striving to be quasi democratic and free to politically debate (just like they see waste our days and $ doing here) and have for once, really, just normal life.

[@thedude4795]

he says the goal of the Afghanistan mission is to prevent terrorism on the American homeland, but there is no terrorism from Afghanistan on US soil, 9/11 had nothing to do with Afghanistan, many of the hijackers where later found alive and well, plus bin Laden was a Saudi, not an Afghan I dont get what our goal is for Afghanistan. Afghanistan has a large potential threat from the taliban who have engaged and killed over a thousand state soldiers within the last year, but thats not Americas problem. Sure, we could and morally should help them out, but the government has to clean itself from within first, before we give billions of dollars away.

[@pinesandtraplines]

The issue was that the US military misused their resources, essentially creating a money pit. Say what you want about Prince and Blackwater, hes right that we could have solved the issues in Afghanistan if the military did things differently. Actually getting Afghan soldiers paid and trained through PMCs who have ex-military, instead of rotating in new soldiers to do the support and training, would have saved the US a lot of money. Not to mention the effects of liberally using explosives on infrastructure.

[@75Prelives]

That’s the whole point. Did you even listen to the video? We don’t have any long-term business in Afghanistan it’s a scam it’s a money making scam for the military industrial complex. That’s why he’s talking about an exit strategy and not constant military “surges” with 100,000 troops or more. He’s talking about what should’ve been done right from the very beginning and not the bullshit waste of money that we did for 20 years.

[@jamesm.3967]

This guy thinks he knows how to solve the world's problems. Just give him the DOD budget so that he can pocket half of it. And then screw everything up.

[@75Prelives]

What a dumb take. You have no idea what you’re talking about. But most leftist dipshts don’t so no surprise. I don’t see you with your “big brain” offering any solutions. And Prince’s strategy Can’t be any worse than what Halliburton did in Iraq . Or what the fcuked-up Obiden administration is doing. Try harder.

[@teachertot7544]

He's become a great salesman but no matter what strategy a military uses, it can not defeat an insurgency. If the Russian military failed and the US military failed how in the world will a few hundred contractors train the Afghan army to succeed? Zero chance. The only way an insurgency can be defeated is by treating the enemy combatants as common criminals and putting them in jail for life, no death sentences. This takes a legitimate and respected government and lots of police investigators. They need to be supported by the military including military intelligence assets but criminal investigators need to lead the way overseen by the State Department NOT the Department of Defense!

[@t64madness]

yes there called concentration camps if you look at history they have been a very effective way of eradicating insurgencies

[@75Prelives]

Wrong. Zero chance? You have no idea what you’re talking about. Have you even served in the military? You sound like one of the keyboard / armchair warriors who thinks they are smarter than they really are. What’s your pedigree? The Tamil Tigers were defeated in 2009 in Sri Lanka. It can be done with the right tactics. The Rhodesian SAS used their unconventional “Fireforce” tactics to defeat insurgent rebels in Rhodesia in 1979. It was done in Sierra Leone against the RUF as well until Susan Rice (state department) stepped in and fcuked it up. Of course conventional military and tactics aren’t effective but if you think the state department is worth a shit against an insurgency then you don’t understand anything.

[@therooster4426]

Eric prince has a date with gitmo

[@75Prelives]

Wow this aged well. Sounds like an ignorant clown who hates America and everything that is good, right and successful. Typical leftist garbage. Smooth brain traitors always say nonsense like this. But keep drinking that communist koolaid. SMH.