Carpenters In The Forehead/   Warlords, Inc.  Part 2

Below find continued excerpts from the Congressional Report of John Tierney, entitled, “Warlord, Inc.: Extortion and Corruption Along the U.S. Supply Chain in Afghanistan:”

"The U.S. operation in Afghanistan has presented the U.S. military with the most complex logistical operation it has ever undertaken. By September 2010, under President Barack Obama’s plan to increase troop strength, the United States will have 100,000 troops in Afghanistan, with an additional 38,000 allied forces under NATO command. Military logistics officers are responsible for providing the troops with the food, water, shelter, weapons, ammunition, and fuel they need to perform their duties."

"Getting cargo to Afghanistan is a tricky endeavor. Unlike Iraq, which has access to the Persian Gulf and is bordered by several U.S. allies, Afghanistan is landlocked between countries with unstable security, impenetrable geographic barriers, and governments hostile to the United States. There are two main land routes into Afghanistan, one from the south through Pakistan and the other from the north through Central Asia. The southern route is the most used and the most dangerous. Cargo is processed in the port of Karachi and then sent north, where it must pass through “the Pashtun tribal lands, where insurgents unfriendly to both Kabul and Islamabad have strong support.”5 These insurgents include the Quetta Shura, led by the top leaders of the deposed Afghan Taliban. On June 8, 2010, for example, militants in Pakistan attacked a convoy of contractor supply trucks carrying U.S. goods as it stopped at a depot just outside of Islamabad, burning 30 trucks and killing six."

Distribution within Afghanistan

"Once cargo reaches Afghanistan, it is taken to one of a handful of distribution hubs, the largest of which are Bagram Airfield in the north and Kandahar Airfield in the south. From there, the supplies must be distributed throughout the country to over 200 U.S. forward operating bases and combat outposts, many of which are located in remote and dangerous areas. While helicopters can be used for some transport, harsh flying conditions, weight limits, frequent maintenance downtimes, high costs, and the sheer size of the country place significant limits on how much helicopters can be utilized.11 Thus, the vast majority of in-country transport is accomplished by truck."

"If terrain and weather were not challenging enough, man-made hazards pose an even bigger threat to trucks in Afghanistan. Explosives can be easily planted and concealed along transport routes, and insurgents regularly attack. General Duncan McNabb, commander of U.S. Transportation Command, told Congress last year, “[i]f you ask me what I worry about at night, it is the fact that our supply chain is always under attack.”

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Afghan Trucking

"The U.S. military relies on local Afghan trucking companies for almost all of its ground transport needs. The trucking industry is a key part of the Afghan economy, providing employment opportunities for a large segment of the population who otherwise would have trouble finding work due to the high rate of illiteracy. U.S. trucking contracts provide a relatively lucrative source of income in this very poor country. The owner of one of the trucking companies supporting the U.S. supply chain reported that between the drivers, assistant drivers, managers, and mechanics, his company single-handedly feeds 20,000 people."

The Host Nation Trucking Contract

"The HNT contract is a $2.16 billion dollar indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract to provide ground transportation in Afghanistan for over 70 percent of Department of Defense goods and materiel, including food, water, fuel, equipment, and ammunition. The contract was awarded to six contractors on March 15, 2009, and performance began on May 1, 2009.22 Although the contract started with a total contract cap of $360 million dollars, according to the Department of Defense, “[t]wo weeks after performance began requirements skyrocketed at a pace that acquisition planners could not have anticipated” due to the surge in troops.23 In July 2009, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army Dean Popps signed a “Justification and Approval for Out of Scope Modification” that increased the total contract size to $2.16 billion, with an individual cap of $360 million per HNT contractor.24 For context, the total annual gross domestic product of Afghanistan was just over $13 billion in 2009."

The “Contractor is Responsible for All Security”

"Importantly, the HNT contract included one new critical provision: section 4.9 of the Statement of Work provides that the “Contractor is responsible for all security” and that “[t]he Contractor will conduct convoys independently, without military escorts, unless otherwise determined by the USG [U.S. government] at its sole direction.”

HNT Contractors

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"Several of the prime contractors for HNT do not own trucks and subcontract out all of their trucking needs. In other words, they essentially serve as brokers to the local Afghan trucking companies. In several cases, the prime contractors have only a handful of personnel in Afghanistan, and in at least one case, the contractor had no prior experience in the trucking business. Prime contractors reported that there is a finite “pool” of trucks in Afghanistan, and many of the prime contractors compete with each other through subcontractors for the use of the same vehicles."

The Afghan Security Environment

"The security environment in Afghanistan has rapidly deteriorated in the past two years and, as a result, trucking operations have become increasingly dangerous.35 The number of incidents involving trucks on the road, including ambushes, IEDs, and kidnappings, has risen sharply. Trucking companies also face repercussions for working with the U.S. military. One company owner reported that he and his drivers receive death threats for working with the United States and that he often has had to pay money to militants to recover the bodies of drivers who were killed on the roads.36 Trucking convoys have become favorite targets of the Taliban and other insurgents, who frequently stop convoys to demand money, set the trucks on fire, and kill or kidnap the drivers."

"As the security situation has deteriorated, there has been a marked increase in the use of IEDs on Afghanistan’s roads.38 By one account, “all told, the U.S. military recorded 8,159 IED incidents in Afghanistan in 2009, compared with 3,867 in 2008 and 2,677 the year before.”

"Lieutenant General Michael Oates, the director of the Department of Defense’s Joint IED Defeat Organization, was quoted in March 2010: “[we] don’t have years to wait and start changing the momentum in Afghanistan.” To add to the sense of urgency, a June 2010 New York Times article cited a U.N. report as finding that there has been “a near-doubling of roadside bombings for the first four months of 2010 compared with the same period in 2009.”

Private Security Contractors

"U.S. and allied contractors in Afghanistan have little choice but to employ private security companies. Whether securing truck convoys, guarding a road project, or providing personal security details, private security services are widely used."

"The U.S. military increasingly relies on private security contractors in Afghanistan for a variety of significant security needs, from transportation to static protection of U.S. bases.44 Unlike in Iraq where a majority of the armed guards are third-country nationals (e.g., Peruvians, Ugandans, Nepalese), 95 percent of the private armed guards used by the Department of Defense in Afghanistan are local nationals. Indeed, the Department’s “Afghan First” campaign directs contractors to hire at least half of all workers from nearby towns or villages."

To be continued……..