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A30 world news
Diaranson 30 Juni 2021

It's imminent: After nearly 20 years US to leave Bagram

trict, a region of more than drew. They “didn’t take
100 villages supported by or- much with them, just the ve-
chards and farming fields, the hicles they needed to trans-
base has been a major suppli- port their soldiers back to
er of employment. The U.S. Russia,” he said.
withdrawal effects nearly ev-
ery household, said Darwaish The prison in the base was
Raufi, district governor. handed over to the Afghans
in 2012, and they will contin-
The Americans have been ue to operate it. In the early
giving the Afghan military years of the war, for many Af-
some weaponry and other ghans, Bagram became syn-
material. Anything else that onymous with fear, next only
they are not taking, they are to Guantanamo Bay. Parents
destroying and selling it to would threaten their crying
scrap dealers around Bagram. children with the prison.
U.S. officials say they must
ensure nothing usable can In the early years of the in-
ever fall into Taliban hands. vasion, Afghans often disap-
peared for months without
Last week, the U.S. Central any reports of their where-
(AP) — For nearly 20 airfield in the 1950s. When “If the Taliban is able to take Command said it had junked abouts until the International
years, Bagram Airfield it invaded Afghanistan in control of the base, it will 14,790 pieces of equipment Committee of the Red Cross
was the heart of American 1979 to back a communist serve as anti-U.S. propagan- and sent 763 C-17 aircraft located them in Bagram.
military power in Afghan- government, it turned it into da fodder for years to come,” loaded with material out of Some returned home with
istan, a sprawling mini- its main base from which it said Roggio who is also editor Afghanistan. Bagram villag- tales of torture.
city behind fences and would defend its occupation of the foundation’s Long War ers say they hear explosions
blast walls just an hour’s of the country. For 10 years, Journal. from inside the base, appar- “When someone mentions
drive north of Kabul. Ini- the Soviets fought the U.S.- ently the Americans destroy- even the word Bagram I hear
tially, it was a symbol of backed mujahedeen, dubbed It would also be a military ing buildings and material. the screams of pain from
the U.S. drive to avenge freedom fighters by Presi- windfall. the prison,” said Zabihullah,
the 9/11 attacks, then of its dent Ronald Reagan, who Raufi said many villagers who spent six years in Ba-
struggle for a way through saw them as a front-line force The enormous base has two have complained to him gram, accused of belonging
the ensuing war with the in one of the last Cold War runways. The most recent, at about the U.S. leaving just to the faction of Gulbuddin
Taliban. battles. 12,000 feet long, was built in their junk behind. Hekmatyar, a warlord desig-
2006 at a cost of $96 million. nated a terrorist by the U.S.
In just a matter of days, the The Soviet Union negotiated There are 110 revetments, “There’s something sadly At the time of his arrest it was
last U.S. soldiers will depart its withdrawal in 1989. Three which are basically parking symbolic about how the U.S. an offense to belong to Hek-
Bagram. They are leaving years later, the pro-Moscow spots for aircraft, protected has gone about leaving Ba- matyar’s party.
what probably everyone con- government collapsed, and by blast walls. GlobalSecuri- gram. The decision to take
nected to the base, whether the mujahedeen took power, ty, a security think tank, says so much away and destroy so Zabihullah, who goes by one
American or Afghan, consid- only to turn their weapons on Bagram includes three large much of what is left speaks to name, was released in 2020,
ers a mixed legacy. each other and kill thousands hangars, a control tower and the U.S. urgency to get out four years after President
of civilians. That turmoil numerous support build- quickly,” said Michael Kugel- Ashraf Ghani signed a peace
“Bagram grew into such a brought to power the Taliban ings. The base has a 50-bed man, deputy director of the deal with Hekmatyar.
massive military installation who overran Kabul in 1996. hospital with a trauma bay, Asia Program at the U.S.-
that, as with few other bases three operating theaters and a based Wilson Center. Roggio says the status of
in Afghanistan and even Iraq, When the U.S. and NATO modern dental clinic. There the prison is a “major con-
it came to symbolize and inherited Bagram in 2001, are also fitness centers and “It’s not the kindest parting cern,” noting that many of
epitomize the phrase ‘mis- they found it in ruins, a col- fast food restaurants. Anoth- gift for Afghans, including its prisoners are known Tal-
sion creep’,” said Andrew lection of crumbling build- er section houses a prison, those taking over the base,” iban leaders or members of
Watkins, Afghanistan senior ings, gouged by rockets and notorious and feared among he said. militant groups, including al-
analyst for the Brussels-based shells, most of its perimeter Afghans. Qaida and the Islamic State
International Crisis Group. fence wrecked. It had been Inevitably, comparisons to group. It’s believed about
abandoned after being bat- Jonathan Schroden, of the the former Soviet Union 7,000 prisoners are still in the
U.S. Central Command said tered in the battles between U.S.-based research and anal- have arisen. prison.
last week that it’s well past the Taliban and rival mujahe- ysis organization CNA, esti-
50% done packing up Ba- deen warlords fleeing to their mates that well over 100,000 Retired Afghan Gen. Saiful- “If the base falls and the pris-
gram, and the rest is going northern enclaves. people spent significant time lah Safi, who worked along- on is overrun, these detainees
fast. American officials have at Bagram over the past two side U.S. forces at Bagram, can bolster the ranks of these
said the entire pullout of U.S. After dislodging the Taliban decades. “Bagram formed a said the Soviets left all their terror groups,” Roggio said.
troops will most likely be from Kabul, the U.S.-led co- foundation for the wartime equipment when they with-
completely finished by July alition began working with experience of a large fraction
4. The Afghan military will their warlord allies to rebuild of U.S. military members
then take over Bagram as part Bagram, first with temporary and contractors who served
of its continuing fight against structures that then turned in Afghanistan,” said Schro-
the Taliban — and against permanent. Its growth was den, director of CNA’s Cen-
what many in the country explosive, eventually swal- ter for Stability and Develop-
fear will be a new eruption of lowing up roughly 30 square ment.
chaos. miles.
“The departure of the last
The departure is rife with “The closure of Bagram is a U.S. troops from there will
symbolism. Not least, it’s the major symbolic and strategic likely serve as the final turn
second time that an invader victory for the Taliban,” said of the page for many of these
of Afghanistan has come and Bill Roggio, senior fellow at folks with respect to their
gone through Bagram. the Foundation for the De- time in that country,” he said.
fense of Democracies.
The Soviet Union built the For Afghans in Bagram dis-