Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant documents that answer the question.
Query: Is there a US military base in Afghanistan?
Bagram Airfield or BAF also known as Bagram Air Base[2] (IATA: OAI, ICAO: OAIX) is the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan. It is located next to the ancient city of Bagram, 11 kilometres (6.8mi) southeast of Charikar in the Parwan Province of Afghanistan. It has a dual runway capable of handling any size military aircraft, including Lockheed Martin C-5 Galaxy and Antonov An-225. Bagram Air Base is occupied by the Afghan Armed Forces and the US-led Resolute Support Mission.
Negotiations between the two countries occurred for several years, but resulted in little to no progress. In June 2010, an agreement for the Canadian military to use a UAE military base to service its operations in Afghanistan expired. The UAE granted a three-month extension of the military base lease, but further talks stalled and the agreement was not renewed after again expiring in October.
In September 2012, BT entered into a $23 million deal with the US military to provide a key communications cable connecting RAF Croughton, a US military base on UK soil, with Camp Lemonnier, a large US base in Djibouti. Camp Lemonnier is used as a base for American drone attacks in Yemen and Somalia, and has been described by "The Economist" as "the most important base for drone operations outside the war zone of Afghanistan."
A modest Australian force remained in Afghanistan over this period and was involved in counter-insurgency operations in Uruzgan province in conjunction with Dutch, US and other coalition forces. MRTF was again renamed to the Mentoring Task Force in early 2010. Based around a combined arms battalion-sized battle group, it consisted of motorised infantry and cavalry force elements supported by engineers, as well as coalition enablers including artillery and aviation assets. The Rotary Wing Group flying CH-47D Chinooks, the Force Logistics Asset and an RAAF air surveillance radar unit were also based in Kandahar. A further 800 Australian logistic personnel were also based in the Middle East in support of Operation Slipper, but were located outside of Afghanistan. Meanwhile, detachments of maritime patrol and transport aircraft continued to support operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, based out of Al Minhad Air Base in the United Arab Emirates.
In early December, the US military personnel occupying the base, along with all military equipment, were shifted to the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan via US military aircraft. On 10 December, Pakistani troops from the Frontier Corps took full control of the airfield as scheduled, and by 11 December all remaining American staff were evacuated. Upon establishing control of the airfield, the United States flag was removed from the base and replaced with the flag of Pakistan.
The impact of the closure has been questioned, as the United States still has the ability to conduct drone attacks from nearby bases in Afghanistan, and according to the Pakistani military, the base was used mainly for refuelling and maintenance of drones, as well as for emergency landings and logistical support, and not for conducting actual drone operations which had in fact ceased in April 2011. Following the incident, Pakistan stated its intention to shoot down any future US drones intruding on its airspace, and the US suspended drone operations to avoid antagonising Pakistan. One report said that American drone attacks in Pakistan dropped by as much as 50% due to the Salala attack, as well as legal cases.
Afghanistan List of United States Army installations in Afghanistan Belgium List of United States Army installations in Belgium Bosnia-Herzegovina List of United States Army installations in Bosnia-Herzegovina Bulgaria List of joint US-Bulgarian military bases Cameroon Contingency Location Garoua, Garoua[30] Germany - 34 facilities
General Barno was promoted to lieutenant general (three stars) in 2003 at age 49, becoming the first member of his West Point class of 1976 to achieve that distinction. In October 2003, he deployed to Afghanistan where he was designated to establish a three-star headquarters in Kabul and ultimately command over 20,000 Coalition Forces for 19 months as the first Commander, Military Operations-Afghanistan (later redesignated Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan, United States Central Command, Afghanistan). During his tenure, he forged a close relationship with U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, co-locating his command at the US Embassy compound and creating an integrated civil-military Counter-insurgency campaign plan for Afghanistan focused on the Afghan population. Without an official post-Vietnam COIN doctrine by the US military, he based his counter-insurgency strategy off his U.S. Military Academy Revolutionary Warfare class notes and COIN works by T.E. Lawrence, the USMC Small Wars Manual, Sorley's A Better War, and John Nagl.
After Pakistan closed its borders to supplies coming in and equipment and material leaving Afghanistan in the wake of the Salala incident the NATO alliance in Afghanistan began using the northern distribution route almost immediately as alternative supply routes. In early June 2012 NATO signed deals with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan to use their territory for evacuating vehicles and military equipment from Afghanistan. "We reached agreement on reverse transit from Afghanistan with three Central Asian partners: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan," Nato Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said at a news conference on June 4, 2012. "These agreements will give us a range of new options and the robust and flexible transport network we need," he said, without offering more detail on the accords. In addition a deal already set with Russia will allow NATO equipment to be moved directly though land into Europe, and to air bases to fly the U.S. equipment home. Nato has said that it wants to start withdrawing its forces from Afghanistan in 2014 and the cost of the northern supply route is nearly double that of the Pakistani route, but at least it's cheaper than flying all that equipment out by air, which costs the US military $14,000 per ton.
The text of the BSA was approved by the delegates at the Loya Jirga on November 24, 2013 and must now be signed by the Afghanistan president, who rejected the final recommendation of the Loya Jirga to promptly sign the BSA with the United States, and sent to the parliament for final ratification. While the Afghanistan parliament endorsed the BSA in 2013, Afghan President Harmid Karzai refuses as of February 6, 2014 to sign i.e. approve the BSA. If approved, the agreement would allow the U.S. to deploy military advisors to train and equip Afghan security forces, along with U.S. special-operations troops for anti-terrorism missions against Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups. President Obama will determine the size of the force. The jirga set a few conditions before expressing approval for the agreement among them a 10-year time limit on the post-2014 troop presence and reparations for damages caused by U.S. troops deployed in Afghanistan. It also voted attach a letter of U.S. President Obama; pledging that U.S. troops would enter Afghan homes only in "extraordinary" circumstances and only if American lives were at direct risk, to the BSA. The elder assembly also demanded the release of 19 Afghans from the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay and a stronger U.S. pledge to defend Afghanistan from any incursion from it neighbors, particularly Pakistan. The loya jirga also voted to request that the U.S. military add a base to the nine bases that would be occupied by U.S. troops under the proposed security pact after combat forces depart Afghanistan by the end of 2014. The base is in Bamian Province in central Afghanistan, where the NATO-led military coalition has maintained a presence. Bamian is a population center for Hazaras, a Shiite minority whose members were massacred by the Taliban prior to the U.S.-led invasion that toppled the militant group. Afghan analysts said Hazara delegates proposed the additional base. At least five of the 50 jirga committees raised objections to the article addressing "status of personnel" which "authorises the United States to hold [civil and criminal] trial … or take other disciplinary action, as appropriate, in the territory of Afghanistan" when a US soldier is accused of criminal activity. Spokespeople from at least two committees directly stated that Afghanistan should have jurisdiction over any US soldiers accused of crimes on Afghan soil. Several committees also stated that if trials are held in the United States, families of victims should have access to and presence in US-held trials at the expense of Washington.
Operation Archer followed Athena beginning in February 2006. Unlike the ISAF-led ATHENA, ARCHER was part of the American military command. By the spring of 2006, Canada had a major role in southern Afghanistan, with Task Force Afghanistan being a battle group of 2,300 soldiers based at Kandahar. Canada also commanded the Multi-National Brigade for Command South, a main military force in the region. In May 2006, the Canadian government extended Canadian military commitments to Afghanistan by two years, replacing earlier plans to withdraw soldiers in 2006.
In 2001 the division was deployed to the Afghanistan border in expectation of the US attack on Afghanistan, and possible attempts by the Taliban to cross the border into Tajikistan.
Based on a declassified report on US special forces' activity at a base in Gardez, Afghanistan, a 2014 series of paintings explores the story of Jamal Nasser, an 18-year-old Afghan soldier who died in US military custody.
Forward Operating Base (FOB) Chapman is situated in Khost province, Afghanistan, on an airstrip 2 miles east of Khost. It is near Camp Salerno, a large military base used by U.S. special operations forces. The base is named for Sergeant First Class Nathan Chapman, the first U.S. soldier killed by enemy fire during the Afghanistan war, in 2002. Chapman was killed while fighting alongside the CIA.
The agreement named "Enduring Strategic Partnership Agreement between Afghanistan and the United States" has a duration of at least 10 years, lays out the framework for a future U.S. role in Afghanistan, including aid assistance and governance advice, and covers the areas of social and economic development, institution building, regional cooperation and security. U.S. help to support Afghan economic development, health care programs, education and social initiatives are part of the agreement. The status of U.S. troops and the details of their operations after the 2014 withdrawal of NATO forces is not included in the partnership, but shall be covered in a separate status of forces agreement. Long-term US access to military bases in Afghanistan as well as the size or location of US bases in Afghanistan are also not part of the strategic partnership.
In the wake of the 11 September attacks on the United States, he agreed to the establishment of coalition military bases in Central Asia before and during the US-led invasion of Afghanistan. Russian nationalists objected to the establishment of any US military presence on the territory of the former Soviet Union, and had expected Putin to keep the US out of the Central Asian republics, or at the very least extract a commitment from Washington to withdraw from these bases as soon as the immediate military necessity had passed.
Forward Operating Base Sarkari Karez is a foreign military base in Maywand District, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan.
The base was initially established, secured and named by the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry "Ramrods" in 2008. It was built by the Bravo Company, 62nd Engineer Battalion based in Fort Hood.
After President Barack Obama expanded the US presence in Afghanistan, several thousand U.S. Army soldiers were stationed at the base.
Beginning in 2011, insurgent forces in Afghanistan began using a tactic of insider attacks on ISAF and Afghan military forces. In the attacks, Taliban personnel or sympathizers belonging to, or pretending to belong to, the Afghan military or police forces attack ISAF personnel, often within the security of ISAF military bases and Afghan government facilities. In 2011, for example, 21 insider attacks killed 35 coalition personnel. Forty-six insider attacks killed 63 and wounded 85 coalition troops, mostly American, in the first 11 months of 2012. The attacks continued but began diminishing towards the planned 31 December 2014 ending of combat operations in Afghanistan by ISAF. However, on 5 August 2014, a gunman in an Afghan military uniform opened fire on a number of international military personnel, killing a U.S. general and wounding about 15 officers and soldiers, including a German brigadier general and 8 U.S. troops, at a training base west of Kabul.
The US force level will drop to between 10,000 and 20,000 troops according to the Long War Journal. They will consist of Special Forces, counterterrorism forces, and military training personnel. They will be deployed to a small number of bases around the country. US/ISAF troops will continue their training of Afghan National Security Forces soldiers. Counterterrorism forces will concentrate mostly on high-value targets. U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta stated on 12 November 2012 that the Obama Administration will cease combat operations by the end of 2014, but it is still refining its timeline for withdrawing the remaining 68,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The administration was also debating how many trainers, Special Operations forces and military assets it will keep in the country after that to support Afghanistan's army and police.
Advising Platform Lightning or more simply AP Lightning is an installation used by Task Force Southeast to train 203rd Corps of the Afghan National Army and the 303rd Afghanistan National Police Zone Headquarters. It was formerly named Forward Operating Base (FOB) Lightning, an American military base in Paktia Province, Afghanistan.
Three years later, in 1987, the now Captain Kurush was selected for membership in the US Army's Military Intelligence Excepted Career Program (MIECP), (otherwise known as GREAT SKILL). Upon entry into this lesser known element of the US Army, Kurush then served another 23 years in pursuance of some of the most challenging and sensitive assignments for the US Army's Military Intelligence function.After those missions and assignments, in 2002, Kurush was tasked by the US Army to stand up and then command a sensitive HUMINT collection detachment under the Defense HUMINT Service. There he deployed to Afghanistan as a HUMINT case officer assigned to provide direct support to US Special Operations Command (USSCOM). Kurush then again deployed to Afghanistan in 2004 in the capacity of the Commander of a Defense HUMINT base where critical HUMINT activities were conducted during US surge operations in Afghanistan. These operations were in support of Afghanistan's first democratic elections after the fall to the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
Camp Eggers was a United States military base in Kabul, Afghanistan located near the US Embassy and the Afghan Presidential Palace. The camp was named after Captain Daniel W. Eggers, a US soldier from the 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Bragg, North Carolina, who was killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) along with three other soldiers on 29 May 2004 near Kandahar. Camp Eggers closed in 2014 as a part of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
Camp Eggers was home to the Combined Forces Command - Afghanistan (CFC-A) and the Combined Security Transition Command - Afghanistan (CSTC-A). It was used by all U.S. military branches and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
The base has been used by the United States for military logistical operations in support of the 2001 war in Afghanistan. According to an anonymous source, the Pentagon is able to make use of the base "as and when".
Thursday, February 7: U.S. President George W. Bush decided that the 1949 Geneva Conventions would apply to captured Taliban fighters taken from Afghanistan to a US military base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, but not to al-Qaeda members there.
In December 2007, the 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team was alerted that it will be deployed to Afghanistan in the summer of 2009 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). This rotation reflects the continued U.S. commitment to assisting in the security of Afghanistan and the development of the Afghan National Security Forces. Afghan forces continue to improve capability and assume responsibility for security. Force levels in Afghanistan continue to be conditions-based, and are determined based on the recommendations of military commanders in Afghanistan and in consultation with the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
In 2002, the United States obtained the right to use Manas International Airport as an air base for its military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Russia subsequently (2003) established an air base of its own (Kant Air Base) near Kant, some east of Bishkek. It is based at a facility that used to be home to a major Soviet military pilot training school; one of its students, Hosni Mubarak, later became president of Egypt.Sister cities of Bishkek include: