Afghanistan overdoses on military
bases By Nick Turse
The
size of Afghanistan, at 652,230 square kilometers,
makes it slightly larger than the fledging nation
of South Sudan, just smaller than the US state of
Texas. The latter holds 203 military bases within
its borders. That's high for a US state, but
nothing compared with Afghanistan.
New
figures provided by the International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF) joint command suggest that
Afghanistan is one of the most heavily garrisoned
nations on the planet. Given its size and
population, it is likely the most thoroughly
militarized country in the world.
Recently, TomDispatch.com revealed there
are approximately 550 ISAF combat outposts (COPs),
forward operating bases (FOBs) and patrol bases in
Afghanistan. Added to this are 200 more ISAF
checkpoints. And when you
count various logistical, administrative, and
support facilities - such as ammunition storage
facilities, barracks, equipment depots and
training centers - the grand total of all foreign
military installations, according to a military
spokesman,tops out at around 1,500.
That,
however, is only about one third of the story.
According to ISAF, military posts manned
by the Afghan National Security Forces dwarf the
number of ISAF outposts in the country. Counting
COPs, FOBs, patrol bases, checkpoints and other
types of logistics and support facilities, the
total number of Afghan bases currently sits at
about 2,700. Essentially, a country the size of
Texas is home to 4,200 military installations,
foreign and domestic.
All of this means
that Afghanistan, the 41st largest nation in terms
of area - with a population of around 30 million -
is nearly as heavily garrisoned as the
third-largest country, the United States, which is
ten times more populous and has roughly 4,450
bases spread across 9.8 million square kilometers.
For many reasons, the value of such
country-to-country comparisons is limited, not in
the least due to the fact the United States
government is not battling an insurgency within
its borders. The number of Afghan bases does,
however, call into serious question the efficacy
of heavy military garrisoning.
Even with
4,200 bases set up to secure the country, along
with close to 80,000 troops from the most
technologically sophisticated and well-funded
military on the planet (with assistance from
40,000 personnel from other powerful armies) and
an allied indigenous force of around 350,000
soldiers and police, the Afghan War has dragged on
for more than a decade. All that military might
has been unable to decisively defeat a rag-tag,
minority insurgency of limited popularity.
Military bases have clearly not been the
answer to defeating Afghanistan's insurgents and
yet, according to US military contracting
documents examined by Asia Times Online, plans
continue for constructing, expanding, and
upgrading bases for the foreseeable future.
Documents released last month point to a
massive building boom, including plans to
construct:
A base for Afghan troops in Kabul Province,
New facilities for the ANA's 3rd Brigade,
215th Corps at Camp Shorabak in Helmand Province,
Barracks, warehouses and administration
facilities for the ANA's 203rd Corps in Paktiya
Province,
New infrastructure at ANA training centers at
Camp Shorabak in Helmand Province and a Regional
Military Training Center at Gamberi, Laghman
Province,
Multiple border police stations west of Kabul,
An ANA garrison in Parwan Province,
New ANA facilities at Camp Hero in Kandahar
Province, and
An unspecified number of refueling and
rearming sites for the Afghan Air Force in Ghazni
Province, among other projects.
There
appears to be no end to the construction boom in
Afghanistan but the reasons why are vague, at
best. If the current inventory of 4,200 military
installations isn't enough to pacify the country,
one wonders just how many outposts ISAF and the
Afghan security forces believe it will take to
build their way to victory.
Nick
Turse is the managing editor of
TomDispatch.com and a fellow at The Nation
Institute. An award-winning journalist, his work
has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Nation,
and regularly at TomDispatch and other print and
on-line publications. He is the author/editor of
several books, including the recently published
Terminator Planet: The First History of Drone
Warfare, 2001-2050 (with Tom Engelhardt). He is
currently finishing his forthcoming book Kill
Anything That Moves: The Real American War in
Vietnam (Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt). You
can follow him on Tumblr.
(Copyright
2012 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights
reserved. Please contact us about sales,
syndication and
republishing.)
Head
Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
