AFGHANISTAN/STATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Aides to President Donald Trump have considered reviving an office it shut down months ago that was dedicated to resolving the conflict in Afghanistan, a sign that the Trump administration’s policy there remains unsettled.
Multiple sources said that senior Trump aides have discussed resurrecting the Office of the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, which was previously based in the State Department, as a White House-based operation…
The special representative has generally been the main coordinator in the U.S. government on policy related to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Talk of reviving the role comes as Erik Prince, founder of the security firm Blackwater, continues to push an alternative model for Afghanistan that relies largely on private contractors and the appointment of a ‘viceroy.’ Despite the support of then-Trump adviser Steve Bannon, Prince failed to persuade Trump officials to adopt his vision this summer. But he hopes his plan will eventually gain favor with Trump if conditions don’t soon improve in Afghanistan, where a suicide bomber killed at least five people near the U.S. Embassy in Kabul on Tuesday…
Spokesmen for the National Security Council would not offer comment for this story.”
-Nahal Toosi, “McMaster may move Afghanistan envoy position to White House,” Politico, Nov. 2, 2017 12:30pm