Afghanistan likely to have permanent US military
By FT.COM

Published: April 5, 2005


Afghanistan's defence minister on Tuesday gave one of the clearest signs yet that Kabul is open to permanent basing of US forces in the country, saying his government was in discussions with the US that could include air bases in Afghanistan after the current nation-building process ends.

General Abdul Rahim Wardak said the details of what would constitute a long-term US presence were still under discussion. But he signalled Kabul was eager for "enduring arrangements" that could include permanent air bases or "pre-positioned" military equipment that would be used by rapidly deployed US forces in a crisis.

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"We will certainly seek enduring relations and partnerships with our international friends," Gen Wardak told a gathering of military analysts in London. "This will prevent the repetition of the catastrophic disengagement of the international community from Afghanistan in the 1990s, which cost us all so dearly."

The discussions have been under way for several months, but both US and Afghan officials have been reluctant to discuss the issue given geopolitical sensitivities in the region, particularly in neighbouring Iran.

Senator John McCain, an influential Republican on defence issues, first hinted at such a possibility in February, when after a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul, he said it was his "personal view" that permanent joint bases should be established.

Last month, General Richard Myers, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, acknowledged during a trip to Afghanistan that the US was considering such a move. Such comments come as the US continues to expand its capabilities at its main air base in Bagram, a Soviet-era facility north of Kabul, where it is building a new runway. Bagram would be the most likely location of a permanent US presence.

Gen Wardak sought to assuage concerns of neighbouring countries of a permanent US presence, saying any agreement with the US would come at the same time Kabul attempted to secure security pacts with regional powers.

He dismissed reports that the US was using Afghanistan as a staging base to conduct reconnaissance operations in Iran. "The US has enough electronic capability to do it from anywhere else. They don't need to do it from Afghanistan."

The US military is due this week to hand control of a civil-military unit based in the western city of Herat, close to the Iranian border, to Nato. The handover is part of a scheduled expansion of the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force, but may help quell rumours that the US was using the unit as a figleaf for a military build-up near Afghanistan's neighbour.

Additional reporting by Victoria Burnett in Islamabad

http://www.nytimes.com/financialtimes/busi...144_308342.html

uhh uhh ummm
*clears throat*

Somebody moved my cheese.

I put this article up a couple of days ago.

It's a conspiracy against brad.

Source: Reuters Foundation
Date: 13 Apr 2005
Afghanistan to request long-term U.S. protection

KABUL, April 13 (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Wednesday he planned to ask U.S. President George W. Bush for long-term security protection for Afghanistan.

But in a joint news conference in Kabul, both he and visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld sidestepped questions as to whether this would involve permanent U.S. bases.

Asked if permanent U.S. bases were planned, Karzai said the Afghan people wanted "a longer-term relationship with the United States" after 30 years of war and upheaval.

"They want this relationship to be a wholesome one, including a sustained economic relationship, a political relationship and, most important of all, a strategic security relationship that would enable Afghanistan to defend itself," he said.

"I have already raised it with President Bush in Washington on my previous trips. And Afghanistan is requesting, seeking, such a partnership, yes," he said. "A request in this regard will be sent to President Bush."

Washington has been seeking stronger military ties with other countries in Central Asia that would include transit rights and the right to stockpile weapons.

Rumsfeld said military relations between the United States and Afghanistan were strengthening and Washington was thinking more about the type of help it could offer, rather than bases.

"It may be training, it may be equipping, it may be various other types of assistance," he said. "But we think more in terms of what we're doing, rather than the question of military bases."

Pressed on what an agreement with Afghanistan might entail and whether it could include permanent bases, Rumsfeld said:

"That is not a matter for the Department of Defense; that is a matter for the president of the United States and the president of Afghanistan to discuss in an orderly way."

PARLIAMENT'S APPROVAL NEEDED

The Afghan government has said in the past that, while it seeks a long-term partnership with Washington, any permanent bases would need the approval of a parliament due to be elected in September.

The issue came to the fore in February when an influential U.S. senator, Arizona Republican John McCain, said during a visit to Kabul he favoured permanent U.S. bases in the interests of U.S. and regional security.

U.S. forces attacked Afghanistan and overthrew the Taliban government in late 2001 after it refused to hand over al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Nearly three and a half years on, bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar remain at large and the United States still has about 17,000 troops in an 18,300-strong international force fighting a Taliban-led insurgency.

Troops are stationed at former Afghan and Soviet bases and in Provincial Reconstruction Teams, units charged with providing security as well as organising reconstruction.

Rumsfeld earlier visited a PRT in Qalat, 65 km (40 miles) from the Pakistani border, and was told Taliban supporters were still finding sanctuary but things were improving.

"In some regions they (Afghan people) are able to be intimidated ... but things are getting better," said U.S. Army Colonel Dick Pederson, commander of the 3rd Brigade of the U.S. 5th Infantry Division.

Bush has cited Afghanistan's budding democracy as a good example of Washington's push to bring freedom to the world, but major problems remain, including record drug production and the insurgency.

Rumsfeld, who has visited Afghanistan regularly since the Taliban's overthrow, was due in Pakistan later on Wednesday for talks with President Pervez Musharraf, another major ally in the U.S.-led war on terrorism.

Afghanistan is the new Germany. Look for extended presence in Uzbekistan and Turkmanistan too.

Speaking of course on my own instinct and no insider information.

brings up some interesting thoughts... the army has been attracting more family oriented soldiers since the mid seventies... providing housing services, schools medical and other support for military families. All we and good while deployments allow for families to follow.

It'll be a few years before those kind of services will be available in this region of the world.

This will affect two things: Current Military families and retention of soldiers once they tie the knot.

Again speaking on my own instinct and no insider information.

Too bad, Germany was a pretty nice place to get stationed, well, if you spoke German it was pretty nice.

At least you could tell when a kraut was cussing you out if you spoke German. And the frauliens all wanted to go home with a rich American, alas, for a married man who was faithful to his wife it was sheer torture.

Both German & English is germanic languaged so off course you could understand when you were cussed out from time to time :nod:

You dont think the young frauliens just wantet to be together whit you becourse you were goodlooking

Seriously, there were 300 000 americans in the prime of their age (For the most part) stationed in Germany, of course there there had to be some lucky studs among them that caught (Or got caught) a young nubile fraulien

I was in Bremerhaven in the 80's along with another Marine attached to the Deutschen Marine, the locals could give you a very good cursing with such a pleasant look on their face assuming Americans couldn't speak German.

The other Marine I was with grew up with German being his first language. He and his parents were born in Maryland but Grandpapa was from Germany, imigrated to America as a small child prior to WW1, and German was the only language spoken at home.

The worst part of being where I was at in Germany was American cigarettes where hard to get and the German brands really stink.

Kind of a racial slur there Mr. Marine and sexist as well.

Not very "professional like" - Thought you were a Lifer of Moral Fiber?