Blackwater founder has controversial plan to end America’s longest war

Nearly 16 years after United States forces entered ­Afghanistan, a shadowy figure from the past is making the rounds in Washington with a plan to end America’s longest war.

Erik Prince, founder of the private security company Blackwater, has resurfaced as President Donald Trump mulls over what to do about a conflict that bedevilled his two predecessors in the White House.

Prince’s plan for Afghanistan would start with the naming of an all-powerful American “viceroy” who would report to the president and play a role like that of General Douglas MacArthur in post-second world war Japan.

American troops, aside from a handful of special forces, would be replaced by a private army of around 5,500 contractors who would train Afghan soldiers and join them in the fight against the Taliban. They would be backed by a 90-aircraft private air force. And all at a cost of less than US$10 billion a year, as opposed to the US$45 billion the United States is expected to spend in 2017 on its military presence in Afghanistan.

Prince, a 48-year-old former US Navy SEAL, has kept a low profile since selling Blackwater in 2010 – three years after some of his employees hired to protect US diplomats killed 14 unarmed Iraqi civilians in Baghdad and wounded another 17.