The McChrystal Flap: Behind the Scenes
On March 27, 2009, President Obama announced his fated “AfPak” strategy to the world, declaring that America would disrupt, dismantle, and defeat the Al Qaeda network. However, the Obama Administration, in announcing an increase of 21,000 forces to the Afghan theatre failed to properly coordinate the initial surge with its supply command. Following an in-depth, six-month investigation, what became clear on Tuesday was that the initial contract to the companies involved in the Afghan Host Nation Trucking effort was for $360 million. This contract quickly ballooned to a $2.16 billion concession. The supply chain for the Afghan war effort, then, was improperly tooled for the troop surge announcements of 2009 and were never remedied by the military commanders overseeing the players involved in the massive logistics operation.