The mission of 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) from Fort Drum, New York, in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom IV was to deny sanctuary to and destroy Al Qaeda and Taliban forces operating in Afghanistan. Transporters of the 10th Forward Support Battalion (FSB) were charged with using all available means to provide, as quickly as possible, the supplies the warfight-ers needed to sustain their mission. This was a challenging mission. Because Afghanistan has been at war for over 20 years, its economy has been extremely deprived, hindering the development and maintenance of its transportation network. Slightly smaller than Texas, Afghanistan has a road network of only 21,000 kilometers, 18,207 kilometers of which are unpaved (compared to approximately 123,000 kilometers of state-maintained roads in Texas). The poor highway system, coupled with the rugged Hindu Kush mountains, makes surface traffic a transportation challenge that significantly affects mission accomplishment.
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