Blackwater founder Erik Prince charging $6.5K to get people out of Afghanistan
Defense contractor and Blackwater founder Erik Prince is reportedly now chartering planes to get people out of Afghanistan — as the US struggles to evacuate Americans and allies before the Aug. 31 deadline.
Prince is guaranteeing people that he can get them safely into Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport and onto a charter flight for $6,500 a person, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
He is charging extra if people are trapped in their homes and need assistance getting to the airport, the report said.
It wasn’t immediately clear if Prince had the money, or means, to carry out such rescues and who they were being offered to, nor was there indication Prince was profiting off chartering the planes.
Prince — a former Navy SEAL and President Donald Trump ally — co-founded the private military company Blackwater, which is now known as Academi, in 1997.
Blackwater was known in the US for furnishing some of the rougher military contractors during the Iraq War.
His company gained attention in 2007 when his contractors killed 17 Iraqi civilians in the Nisour Square massacre. Four agents were convicted in 2014 over the attack but were all pardoned by Trump in December last year.
More recently, Prince — who is the brother of Trump’s Education Secretary Betsy DeVos — was accused of violating the UN arms embargo against Libya, according to a report to the UN Security Council. Prince denied any wrongdoing.
His $6,500 offer to help get people out of Afghanistan comes as Americans and Afghans rush to flee Kabul as the window for evacuations is closing.
He is among the many contractors, veterans and aid workers trying to get as many people out of Kabul as possible before President Biden’s Aug. 31 deadline.
The Taliban have ordered all US troops to be out by that deadline and warned there would be consequences if they’re not.
US forces have been sending special rescue teams into the city to help get Americans to the airport.
Biden warned Tuesday there was a “growing risk” of a terror attack by ISIS’ Afghan affiliate, ISIS-K, but insisted the US was “on pace” to withdraw from Afghanistan by the deadline.
Another 11,200 people were evacuated on 42 US military flights out of Kabul in the 24 hours ending Wednesday morning, the White House said. About 7,800 people were also evacuated on allied flights.
Since Aug. 14, about 82,300 people have been evacuated on US military and allied flights, according to the White House.
