Even as US Troops Leave Afghanistan, the Pentagon’s Operational Headaches in the Middle East Continue

The withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan is almost complete, bringing the longest war in American history to an end and closing the book on the original chapter of Washington’s two decade-long “War on Terror.”

While September 11th was initially chosen as the symbolic deadline for the departure of US personnel, the Department of Defense (DoD) is running well ahead of schedule and the withdrawal is already more than 90% complete. As Biden said in a speech from the White House on July 8th: “I will not send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan, with no reasonable expectation of achieving a different outcome.”

And yet, in spite of the drama surrounding the departure and the chaotic overnight turnover of Bagram Airbase at the start of this month, the US military is still going need to supply thousands of people stationed in combat or non-combat roles in Iraq, Syria, the Persian Gulf, and Afghanistan itself, where several hundred US troops will remain in Kabul to protect the American embassy.

Unfortunately for the Pentagon planners faced with that task, one of the Department’s key Middle Eastern contractors appears to no longer be equipped to service its operations, as a result of long running legal issues in both Kuwait and the US.

America’s enduring presence in the region

While the Afghanistan withdrawal has dominated the headlines since President Joe Biden first set September 11th as a deadline in April, Biden is the third consecutive American president to undertake disengagement efforts in the “greater Middle East.” Since the 2011 “pivot to Asia,” Presidents Obama, Trump, and now Biden have all sought to reduce the US footprint in the region, trying to shift American involvement to that of a mediator while turning their gaze in the direction of the Asia-Pacific and China’s aspirations for regional hegemony.

For all of the rhetoric in Washington about reducing the American presence in countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, the struggle to secure lasting political resolutions to the instability facing these countries has required the United States to maintain a substantial military presence across the Middle East.

As of January 2020, no fewer than 60,000 US troops were deployed to the Middle East and Afghanistan, including nearly 40,000 service members distributed between Persian Gulf allies including Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. Even as US forces withdraw from Afghanistan, the Pentagon is sending additional aerial and naval assets to the Gulf.

Logistical liabilities

Feeding, housing, and supplying all of these people has been a consistent feat of logistics for the US military for the past two decades, and the US government relies on a network of regional contractors to maintain the operational readiness of its personnel. Unfortunately for Washington, the legal troubles of one of its preferred logistical partners in the Gulf could now force the Pentagon to scramble for alternatives.

Late last month, the Kuwait Port Authority announced it had completed its eviction of Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport, better known as KGL, from 1.5 million square meters of property at the Port of Shuwaikh in Kuwait City, after having expelled the company from one million square meters of land in the Mina Abdullah industrial zone and 270,000 square meters of the Doha Port. Taken together, these evictions mean KGL will no longer have access to the warehousing space it needs to service US government contracts.

Not that KGL’s legal troubles in Kuwait have factored into the DoD’s contracting decisions, at least until now. By the time the Pentagon’s Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) announced it was awarding its most recent, $690 million contract to KGL in January 2018, the eviction proceedings had already been underway for years. Even before then, the Department had faced years of questions from Congress over allegations the contractor maintained illegal business ties to Iran while servicing US government contracts.

Despite DoD’s denials that the company had engaged in impropriety, the allegations were serious enough to touch off an investigation by the FBI and the military’s own Defense Criminal Investigative Service. In subsequent US court proceedings, a KGL attorney admitted the firm created a “ghost structure” in order to do business with sanctioned Iranian companies.

Personnel pay the price

KGL, in spite of being evicted from Kuwaiti port facilities, facing questions over its compliance with US sanctions, and seeing former executives jailed on embezzlement charges, continued to serve as the Pentagon’s “temporary supplier” after the DoD was forced to restart the bidding process for the supply contract, even as disruptions to the food supply handled by the company allegedly left US servicemembers eating rations instead of fresh food.

Variously attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte or to Frederick the Great, the famous quote “an army marches on its stomach” is as true today as it was in centuries past. While the US military withdraws most of its forces from Afghanistan, the imperative of protecting American interests both in that country and in the Middle East means the US forces will remain in the region for years, if not decades, to come.

As KGL’s legal saga has made clear, the Pentagon will need to find more reliable and less controversial suppliers to deliver food and water to the men and women who will make up that presence.

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