Transitioning to post-war supply chain system in Afghanistan

As the United States begins to complete its 13-year war in Afghanistan, the pullout of troops and materiel is proving to be an extremely complex undertaking. As the pullout occurs, the major logistical undertaking for the United States is the retrograde of equipment and materiel, much of which has been in direct support of the Afghan military, and the general Afghan population, for over a decade. This direct logistical support cannot sustain in post-war environment. As such, this paper seeks to define the current supply chain system between the United States and Afghanistan, and then to propose a transition system that can provide the required support to Afghanistan, without direct military involvement post-war. In order to accomplish the task, this paper outlined following research questions. These questions are: To what extent should the United States Government rely on indigenous Afghan channel members to maintain the supply chain of goods flowing between the United States and Afghanistan? How does the United States Government transition from a military logistics model to a peace-time, civilian-driven supply chain to sustain post-war Afghanistan? And finally, what changes to the current supply chain, both domestic and international, must be made in order to sustain post-war Afghanistan at an acceptable level?