ALiSS_-_Industry_Day_Opening.pdf

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Afghanistan Life Support Services (ALiSS) Industry Day Talking Points/Opening Remarks:

Welcome to Industry Day at the Department of State, we are pleased to see such an enthusiastic turnout. Today’s conversation and presentation will focus on Department of State Operations in Afghanistan in the post 2014 environment, and our anticipated requirements over time to support the Diplomatic Mission.

As many of you know, the U.S. role in the latest chapter of Afghanistan’s history began on September 11, 2001. Over the last decade, U.S. Diplomatic operations in Afghanistan have relied heavily upon the existing field infrastructure and partnerships with United States (“U.S.”) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (“NATO”) military forces, leveraging their considerable resources and capabilities to achieve our goals and to support our personnel.

However, in December of this year, we will mark the end of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission, with Afghan forces taking the lead for security nationwide. Afghanistan will prepare for presidential elections in April 2014, and provincial elections later in the year. Afghanistan will also focus on economic transition as it works to sustain its own economic growth during a period when spending by international forces and direct foreign assistance is decreasing.

This transition will impact our engagement in the field, our mission sets, and our overall diplomatic operations. While we work to support our core policy objectives to ensure past achievements are irreversible, and continue support of progress by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (“GIRoA”) towards a strong, secure, and sovereign Afghan state, we must also focus on the required support to achieve these goals.

Today’s operations have been dramatically reshaped by the decreased presence of US military forces scheduled to be at 34,000 by the end of this month.

For example, as of January 2014, the Department of State staff operates from only 8 field locations, down sharply from 49 in January 2013, and from over 90 at the height of our presence in 2012. Further cuts to troop levels will place additional downward pressure on our field presence. In recognition of our evolving environment, today’s conversation will focus on our anticipated requirements in support of the post 2014 mission.

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While field locations have rapidly reduced, we anticipate maintaining a presence anchored by the Embassy in Kabul, with Consulates in Herat and Mazar-e Sharif and a modest number of Diplomatic personnel on military platforms in Kandahar and Jalalabad to meet key policy and programmatic objectives. In addition, the mission anticipates an Embassy liaison office on the military base in Bagram to coordinate with senior military elements operating from Bagram airfield.

To support this footprint, we anticipate an increased reliance upon contracted support services, primarily in Kabul to support our mission as we continue diplomatic engagement and support the security Transition process to Afghan lead, the reduction of U.S. and Coalition military forces, and the promotion of sustainable stability. In the field, we will continue to rely upon existing field infrastructure and partnerships with United States (“U.S.”) and coalition military forces to the greatest extent possible, leveraging their considerable resources and capabilities. However, we fully recognize the need to explore and develop temporary and expeditious solutions to sustain our presence on an as needed basis.

In recognition of those complexities, and the lack of clarity due to delays in signing the bilateral security agreement, our approach to fulfilling our identified requirements will call for a high degree of flexibility. We will look to industry to provide solutions which are scalable to our evolving needs and field posturing, while allowing for conditions based assessments and adjustments to the dynamic security environment.

While my colleagues will provide a much greater level of detail on our operations as the presentation unfolds, I do want to highlight that we are committed to maintaining and continuing our diplomatic mission in Afghanistan. We are equally committed to working with and supporting our contract partners in Afghanistan. We look forward to collaborative thinking on developing solutions to support our mission in Afghanistan.

With that, I will cede the stage to my colleague, Don Schlinez from The Administration Bureau (A/LM/AQM).

Thank You