U.S. Starts to Close Bases in Afghanistan

By artappraiser on Sat, 03/17/2012 - 2:18pm |

By Spencer Ackerman, Danger Room @ wired.com, March 15, 2012

Here’s how you know the Afghan surge really is coming to an end: The U.S. Army is starting to pack up its stuff, close its bases and begin the arduous logistical work of downsizing in Afghanistan [....]

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http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/03/base-close-afghanistan/

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We won! Bring 'em all home by 4 July 2012! The hell with the summer fighting season, forfeit!

by NCD on Sat, 03/17/2012 - 4:36pm

But Spencer implies that we may long have Bagram (sorta like we have Ramstein in Kaiserslautern two decades after the end of the Cold War and more than half a century after WWII?)

It’s unlikely that major bases will be affected by the closure. The giant Bagram air field, a central logistics hub about an hour’s drive from Kabul, has gotten supersized in recent years. As elite commandos become central to the U.S.’ strategy for a residual force, special operations forces are building a new Joint Operations Center at Kandahar air field in the south. Rumor has it that the ongoing negotiations with President Karzai on that residual presence will emphasize the U.S.’ desire to retain control of the bases at Bagram, Kandahar and Jalalabad — major hubs for drones in both Afghanistan and Pakistan — and perhaps a lesser-known but large base in Khost Province called Salerno.

BTW, I just glanced at this Wikipedia list of current & former US Army installations in Germany I was surprised to find we are ever slowly slowly wittling down things there.

by artappraiser on Sat, 03/17/2012 - 11:01pm

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