"Privatization of war in Afghanistan " Topic

No political commentary intended or requested…

An interesting article for near-future conflict:

link

Saw the Honcho of Black Water(?) interviewed on news show this morning. And this was the topic … I could see the "advantage" of this sort of operation. And cost savings, etc., if his comments are correct. In places like A'stan or even Iraq, I could see how this could be useful … But there is still a number "legal" matters, etc., to take into consideration.

With what e.g. is going on in A'stan currently. I doubt there will ever be a stable gov't, no terrorists, warlords, etc., and the country/region ever be at any sort of thing that would be called "peace". Anytime soon at least …

Guys who served there will have a much better take on this than I. They were literally on the ground and have better/maybe different POV, etc., … And appreciation for the situation …

Yeah, it does make one wonder about a "warlord period" of government.

Here is my views on this topic.

Under US Federal law and International law its illegal for merc units or armies to conduct offensive operations. So for this to be legal. PMC/PSC companies can only train, advise, or provide defensive/security operations.

Plus the UK, USA and several other countries have laws in their books to criminally charge their citizens if they do something illegal in a foreign country.

Originally the US went into Afghanstan cause the Taliban were allowing Al'Quada to stay there. The USA took care of that and set up a new government there. Then it was determined Afghanastan is rich in rare earth minerals. So the US has stayed there trying to make the country stable. In the mean time China and other worldly corporations have set up mining shops. If it wasn't for the wealthy in rare earth minerals there, the USA would have been gone a few years ago.

So for gaming purposes, there are all kinds of options.

PMC/PSC companies can only train, advise, or provide defensive/security operations.

I think generally this is what the "plan"/intent would be. But things could get easily out of control, etc. Regardless, IIRC, the PMCs will only number @ 5000 with this "option". So they couldn't be everywhere and could control only a few small areas, at best. If they went beyond training, advising, etc., the ANA/ANP. And all of this is very unlikely, IMO.

IMO at this point, there is no real "plan"/fix/solution to make A'stan a real functioning, etc., state at any level. Save for by 3d World standards. But I was not there so I could be wrong.

Afghanastan is rich in rare earth minerals

Regardless of this fact … I'd think if this was the reason why the US was there, and I'm not saying whether this is true or not. That very well may be the case.

I'm not sure if many may believe that the ROI is worth all the "Blood" and [especially to some] the "Treasure" expenditures already. Money seems to drive everything … and has for some time. But again, I could be wrong …