Afghanistan war refers to the international conflict that was triggered by the US attacks

that occurred in three phases in the Afghanistan. The first phase involved the Taliban that lasted

for two months, second phase that was characterized with the strategy by US to defeat the

Taliban and develop by rebuilding the crucial institutions in the Afghanistan (Whitlock, 2021).

The third phase commenced in 2008 and was propelled by then US president, Obama by

increasing the American troops in Afghanistan. The main strategy was to protect the people

living in Afghanistan against the attacks from Taliban and support the intensified efforts of

reintegrating the insurgents into the society. Overtime the implementation of the strategy was to

handover the security role to the afghan police and military over time. It is unfortunate the new

technique considerably failed in its role. The NATO combat mission came to a halt in 2014

making the conflict the largest war in history. The war operations started by the distribution and

deployment of support commodities, vehicles, and personnel from an operations center in

Kuwait. Multiple entities were involved in the course of the war to ensure the war was financed

with appropriate requirements at the right moments. Multiple logistics networks were developed

that were to some extent complex considering massive collaboration between other countries to

support the course of the war without any interruption in the logistics. The Pakistan route, air

routes and salang tunnel played significant roles to the course and development of the war.

Nevertheless, NATO had strategic importance and role in the war’s logistic networks (Rasool,

2019). The logistic network considered, medical support, infrastructure engineering, petroleum

support, transportation, movement, maintenance and supply. Therefore, the paper is set discuss

the Afghanistan war logistics basing on the role of northern distribution network, air routes,

Pakistan route, strategic relevance of salang tunnel and the strategic relevance and role of the

NATO.
 The salang tunnel, a tunnel completed by the Soviet Union in during the 60s connecting

Kabul and the southern areas of the country was of great strategic relevance. The tunnel enabled

the supply of various supplies including fuel, food stuffs and other necessary ammunitions such

as guns and bullets to enable the war to progress from the northern part of the country to the

southern in Kabul. Besides, the tunnel involved the transportation of troops to either the south or

the north to carry out their operations (Rasool, 2019). Taliban used the route to transport their

commodities to the north and sometimes to the south to engage in trade with other countries and

individuals to enable them fund the war’s operations since the route is the only trade route

between Central Asia and the south. Almost all the supplies of resources used during the war

were transported through this route. Currently, it is estimated that $1billion of goods have been

transported through this route accounting for about half of Afghanistan’s trade. The salang tunnel

has had significant importance regarding h support of the war and an additional strategic

importance (Whitlock, 2021). As a strategic asset the tunnel served the majority of the parties

involved in the war by enabling their transportation from the north to the south and south to the

north (Schanz, 2021). About 80% of the north-south commerce of the Afghanistan people relied

on the tunnel for commerce. It enabled the success of various actions plan implemented by the

Taliban by allowing them to navigate the country from south to the north. The Taliban used the

tunnel more than the Americans since road transport is the major transport in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan being a landlocked country, it has inadequate rail, air and marine transport.

The air routes played crucial roles in the course of the Afghanistan war. However, the

costly nature of the air transport made the Taliban to use road routes. The air routes were

considered more so when transporting the more lethal equipment that required faster delivery.

The commodities supplied by the air routes include water, supplies, guns, bullets, contractors and
service members. In some cases the Taliban considered shipping equipment through other

countries for reliability and efficiency in their operation. The air routes transported material and

people. To some extent, the airlines were well planned to play their significant roles during the

war for the other opposing forces not t track their moves. However, the US used the air routes

more efficiently that he Taliban who were more of ground based. Most of the air routes of the

afghan war considered the austere fields where the armament and ammunition were delivered

and dropped through air. Among the key airstrips that enabled the war to continue include the

Kandahar and Bagram airfields. The air routes passing through central Asia were critical to the

war such as the Kyrgyzstan’s Manas airbase that is found on the outskirts of Bishkek. The air

route ensured that the logisticians, aircrews push material forward for the service men to have a

profound perspective of their intended mission in Afghanistan. The air route managed the

transportation of about 500 tons of cargo on a monthly basis (Schanz, 2021). The air route

operations involved more of strategic effort to enable realization of tactical decision

implementation. However, the forces encountered their worst nightmare during the course of the

war since the country was characterized with rugged and high mountains, procession of no

access to river ports and outdated infrastructure that make the traffic more difficult. The US

forces used the air routes more compared to the Taliban in Afghanistan who lacked the necessary

aircraft machinery.

Conclusion

In summary, discussion of the Afghanistan war logistics basing on the role of northern

distribution network, air routes, Pakistan route, and strategic relevance of salang tunnel and the

strategic relevance and role of the NATO is crucial in learning the inefficiencies of various

institutions that intensified the war’s course. US tried their best in attempting to preserve the
security gains, human rights and political rights of individuals in Afghanistan. The takeover of

the country by Taliban implies that the war supplies and distributions will continue since the

Taliban have always had strong ties with the al-Qaeda. Thus, the country will continue will

continue supporting logistic that are war related. Afghanistan’s, escalating humanitarian crisis,

mass exodus of refugees and its internal instability will have significant ramifications to its

neighboring countries. To some extent, the difficulty in logistics made it difficult for the US

forces to sustain the course of the war. The logistics played key roles in the movement of troops

within the country. The logistics of the Afghanistan war enabled the operation to be carried out

and maintained. The war’s logistics appear to be the link between the industrial bases producing

weapon and material to win a war, and the deployed forces or militia. It would have been better

if US considered multinational logistics as collective logistics component to increase efficiency

in their logistics, harmonize processes and the reduce the various costs involved in running the

war.

Reference
Schanz, M. (2021). Afghanistan is a logistician’s nightmare, and air mobility is the

solution. Enduring Airlift. Retrieved 13 November 2021, from

https://www.airforcemag.com/PDF/MagazineArchive/Documents/2009/October

%202009/1009airlift.pdf.

Whitlock, C. (2021). The Afghanistan papers: a secret history of the war. Simon and Schuster.

Rasool, H. (2019). Afghanistan as a Factor in Central Asia’s Security. International Journal of

Applied Social Science, 6(5), 1340-44.