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A30 world news
Diasabra 3 Juli 2021

US hands Bagram Airfield to Afghans after nearly 20 years

It was clear soon after the mid-April a history of brutal violence to assist
announcement that the U.S. was Afghan security forces. At what had all
ending its “forever war,” that the the hallmarks of a final press confer-
departure of U.S. soldiers and their ence, Gen. Miller this week warned
estimated 7,000 NATO allies would that continued violence risked a civil
be completed nearer to July 4, when war in Afghanistan.
America celebrates its Independence
Day. At its peak in and around 2012, Ba-
gram Airfield saw more than 100,000
As of this week, most other NATO U.S. troops pass through the mas-
soldiers have already quietly exited sive compound barely an hour’s drive
Afghanistan. Announcements from north of Kabul.
several countries analyzed by the AP
show that a majority of European The departure is rife with symbol-
troops has left with little ceremony ism, the second time an invader
— a stark contrast to the dramatic of Afghanistan has come and gone
and public show of force and unity through Bagram.
when NATO allies lined up to back
the U.S. invasion in 2001. The Soviet Union built the airfield
in the 1950s. When it invaded Af-
The U.S. has refused to say when the ghanistan in 1979 to back a commu-
last American soldier would leave Af- nist government, it turned Bagram
(AP) — After nearly 20 years, the forces took control. ghanistan, citing security concerns, into its main base. For 10 years, the
U.S. military left Bagram Air- but also future security and protec- Soviets fought the U.S.-backed mu-
field, the epicenter of its war to “Unfortunately the Americans left tion for Kabul International Airport jahedeen, dubbed freedom fighters
oust the Taliban and hunt down without any coordination with Ba- is still being negotiated. Turkish and by President Ronald Reagan who saw
the al-Qaida perpetrators of the gram district officials or the gover- U.S. soldiers are currently protecting them as a front-line force in one of
9/11 terrorist attacks on America, nor’s office,” Raufi said. “Right now the airport, still under Resolute Sup- the last Cold War battles.
two U.S. officials said Friday. our Afghan security forces are in con- port Mission, which is the military
trol both inside and outside of the mission being wound down. When the U.S. and NATO inherited
The airfield was handed over to the base.” Bagram in 2001, they found it in ruins,
Afghan National Security and De- Until a new agreement for the airport a collection of crumbling buildings,
fense Force in its entirety, they said, However, U.S. military spokesman is struck by Turkey and the Afghan gouged by rockets and shells, most
speaking on condition they not be Col. Sonny Leggett said the hando- government, and possibly the United of its perimeter fence wrecked. It had
identified because they were not au- ver was an “extensive process” that States, it appears the Resolute Sup- been abandoned after being battered
thorized to release the information to spanned several weeks and began port mission would to have to con- in the battles between the Taliban and
the media. soon after President Joe Biden’s mid- tinue to be in charge of the facility. rival mujahedeen warlords fleeing to
April announcement that America their northern enclaves.
One of the officials also said the U.S. was withdrawing the last of its forces. The U.S. will also have about 650
top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. troops in Afghanistan to protect its The base has two runways. The most
Austin S. Miller, “still retains all the “All handovers of Resolute Support sprawling embassy in Kabul. Their recent, at 12,000 feet long, was built
capabilities and authorities to protect bases and facilities, to include Ba- presence is understood will be cov- in 2006 at a cost of $96 million. There
the forces.” gram Airfield, have been closely co- ered under a bilateral agreement with are 110 revetments, which are basi-
ordinated, both with senior leaders the Afghan government. cally parking spots for aircraft, pro-
Miller met Afghan President Ashraf from the government and with our tected by blast walls. GlobalSecurity,
Ghani on Friday and according to a Afghan partners in the security forc- The U.S. and NATO departure a security think tank, says Bagram in-
Dari-language tweet by the presiden- es, including leadership of the locally comes as the Taliban make strides cludes three large hangars, a control
tial palace, the two discussed “con- based units respective to each base,” in several parts of the country, over- tower and numerous support build-
tinued U.S. assistance and coopera- said Col. Leggett. running dozens of districts and over- ings. The base has a 50-bed hospital
tion with Afghanistan, particularly in whelming beleaguered Afghan secu- with a trauma bay, three operating
supporting the defense and security The deputy spokesman for the de- rity forces. theaters and a modern dental clinic.
forces.” fense minister, Fawad Aman, said Another section houses a prison, no-
nothing of the early morning loot- In a worrying development, the gov- torious and feared among Afghans.
There were no specifics but the U.S. ing. He said only the base has been ernment has resurrected militias with
is already committed to paying nearly handed over and that Afghan forces
$4 billion annually until 2024 to fi- will now “protect the base and use it
nance the Afghan security forces. to combat terrorism.”
While no one was calling Miller’s
visit a farewell, in the backdrop of the The Taliban also welcomed the
evacuation of Bagram Airfield it had American withdrawal from Bagram
the hallmarks of a goodbye. Airfield. In February 2020, the Trump
administration signed a peace deal
Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s district with the Taliban promising the with-
administrator for Bagram, Darwaish drawal of all troops from Afghanistan.
Raufi, said the American departure
was done overnight without any co- Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mu-
ordination with local officials, and as jahid tweeted that Friday’s departure
a result early Friday, dozens of local was a “positive step,” urging for the
looters stormed through the unpro- “withdrawal of foreign forces from all
tected gates before Afghan forces re- parts of the country.”
gained control.
The withdrawal is the clearest indi-
“They were stopped and some have cation that the last of the 2,500-3,500
been arrested and the rest have been U.S. troops have left Afghanistan or
cleared from the base,” Raufi told are nearing a departure — months
The Associated Press, adding that the ahead of Biden’s promise that they
looters ransacked several buildings would be gone by Sept. 11.
before being arrested and the Afghan