Private army in Afghanistan 'not a wise idea': Mattis

WASHINGTON: US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Tuesday downplayed the idea of sending private military contractors to Afghanistan to replace American forces.

"When Americans put their nation's credibility on the line, privatising it is probably not a wise idea," Mattis told Pentagon reporters.

Erik Prince, the former head of a controversial private military firm once known as Blackwater, has repeatedly touted such a plan as a way of reducing the US military footprint in Afghanistan after 17 years of war. His sister is Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.



Currently, about 14,000 US troops are in Afghanistan, providing the main component of the NATO mission to support and train local forces.

US support for the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen is not ‘unconditional,’ Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Tuesday, as he defended America’s ongoing role in the war.



The Pentagon chief’s comments came the same day as UN investigators said they had reasonable grounds to believe that warring parties in Yemen may have committed a “substantial number” of violations of humanitarian law that could amount to “war crimes.”

The US provides weapons, aerial refueling to jets, intelligence and targeting information to the Saudi-led coalition that is fighting the Houthis in Yemen.