White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Wednesday excoriated Erik Prince, the billionaire US military contractor and close ally to former President Donald Trump, for reports he is allegedly charging $6,500 per ticket for flights out of Afghanistan on a chartered plane.
“I don’t think any human being who has a heart and soul would support efforts to profit off of people’s agony and pain as they’re trying to depart a country and fearing for their lives,” Psaki said at Wednesday’s White House press briefing.
Prince is the founder of Blackwater, a military contractor that made billions from the United States’ wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, as the war in Afghanistan ends, the Wall Street Journal has reported that Prince is selling seats on chartered flights out of the country.
Tens of thousands of Afghans, Americans, and foreign nationals are currently evacuating the country as the authoritarian Taliban regime returns to power.
In the past 24 hours, the US and other countries have flown 19,200 people out of the international airport in Kabul, bringing the total number of evacuees so far to 82,300.
As the evacuation continues, Prince has allegedly offered a privileged few of those people a way out – for a steep price. According to The Wall Street Journal, the financier has advertised his flights at $6,500 a head, plus additional costs if the passenger needs help escaping their home and getting safely to the airport.
Journalists and other observers have condemned the effort.
“After making millions of dollars off the Afghanistan war, Erik Prince is back at it, exploiting people’s desperation for cash,” tweeted New York Times editor Maria Abi-Habib.
“Erik Prince sees a crisis for his fellow Americans and allies, and the billionaire uses it to charge $6,500 per person for a plane seat out,” activist Amy Siskind wrote. “What a guy!”
Watch Jen Psakis’ response below:
WH @PressSec Jen Psaki on reports that notorious Blackwater founder Erik Prince is charging $6,500 per seat to flee Afghanistan in a chartered jet:
“I don’t think any human being who has a heart and soul would support efforts to profit off of people’s agony and pain …” pic.twitter.com/S6S6YxDueA
— The Recount (@therecount) August 25, 2021
