Trump advisers sought alternative plans for Afghanistan from military contractors

Top Trump advisers recruited two businessmen with backgrounds in military contracting to come up with alternative plans for Afghanistan, The New York Times reported Monday.

Blackwater Worldwide founder Erik Prince and DynCorp owner Stephen Feinberg have floated proposals to use contractors instead of U.S. military forces in Afghanistan.

According to the Times report, they have presented their alternatives to the Pentagon’s plan to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan to chief strategist Stephen Bannon and senior adviser and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner.

{mosads}Bannon reportedly sought a meeting this weekend with Defense Secretary James Mattis at the Pentagon in hopes of discussing the outside ideas.

The Times reported that Mattis “listened politely” but did not include the ideas in the policy review he and national security adviser H.R. McMaster are leading.