Imbue
The following article give some info on us bases in the middle east and asia. Note that the us has bases in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, but none in israel (a 'secret' us base may be there).
---
US military bases are being constructed. Thousands of US troops are also digging in for a long stay in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Washington's new military assets provide new links in a chain of facilities that include Camp Bondsteel in Kosova, bases and facilities in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Oman in the Persian Gulf, as well as the Incirlik air base in Turkey (where many of the US warplanes that continue to bomb Iraq are based).
The US has quietly constructed a US$1.5 billion base at al Adid, which boasts one of the longest runways in the region. US navy battle groups permanently prowl the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea and the Mediterranean. The Pentagon has approved the long-term positioning of two aircraft carriers and ships with thousands of marines aboard in the northern Arabian Sea.
Los Angeles Times correspondent William Arkin described the expansion of the US presence on January 6: “The US is creating a ring of new military bases that encircle Afghanistan and enhance the armed forces' ability to strike targets throughout much of the Muslim world. Since September 11 ... military tent cities have sprung up at 13 locations in nine countries neighbouring Afghanistan ... Altogether, from Bulgaria and Uzbekistan to Turkey, Kuwait and beyond, more than 60,000 US military now live and work at these forward bases. Hundreds of aircraft fly in and out of so-called `expeditionary airfields’.”
The best known of Washington's new facilities is the Kandabad air base, near Tashkent, in Uzbekistan, where US warplanes and 2000 soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division have been stationed throughout the war on Afghanistan. In return, Washington has promised to protect the repressive Uzbek regime's security and has given more than US$100 million in military aid.
In Kyrgyzstan, a large base is being built at Manas International airport, 30 kilometres from the capital Bishkek. The US military is erecting facilities that will house 3000 personnel, reported Associated Press on January 9. Manas will, according US military spokespeople, become a “transportation hub” and will service jet fighters, cargo planes and air-to-air refuelling aircraft. Kyrgyzstan authorities have approved unrestricted US use of the base, including permission for it to be a launch pad for combat missions.
In Tajikistan, US military aircraft are operating out of Kulyab, near the Afghan border. A US military team has visited Tajikistan to assess three potential sites for US bases. On January 9, Washington dropped restrictions on the sale of US arms or the provision of training to Tajikistan. The US State department said the move was “in the interests of foreign policy and national security”.
Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan have also offered Washington locations for US military bases and allowed access to Afghanistan for US special forces.
In Afghanistan, the US is constructing a large base near Kandahar, designed to handle a high volume of air movements. Around 1000 soldiers from the US Army's 101st Airborne Division have replaced the 1500 marines who established the base. Army troops are typically deployed to hold territory for extended periods. According to the January 9 New York Times, the Kandahar deployment “could easily double in size if the number of prisoners grew sharply, or if American forces were needed to capture terrorists”.
US troops are also deployed at the Bagram air base, near Kabul, and at the Mazar-i-Sharif airport, in northern Afghanistan.
In the course of its bombing blitz on Afghanistan, Washington set up operations at four air bases in Pakistan, from which marines and army commandos, search-and-rescue teams and support have been operating.
US forces share the Jacobabad base, 480km northeast of Karachi, and Pasni base, 290km west of Karachi, with the Pakistan military. At Jacobabad, US forces have carried out major construction and repairs and installed radar facilities.
Military ties
Washington also has exclusive use of the Dalbandin airfield, 275km southwest of Quetta, which it uses as a forward refuelling base for special operations helicopters. The Shamsi airfield is also used by US special operations forces.
Washington has also been strengthening military ties with other Central Asian and Caucasian states. Armenia and Azerbaijan have allowed the US military use of their air space. As a reward, the Bush administration lifted a 10-year ban on US military aid to the two countries.
NATO officials arrived in the former Soviet republic of Georgia on January 11 to prepare for large military exercises later in the year. NATO troops from the US, Britain, Germany, Greece and Turkey will join hands with armed forces from the countries that constitute the NATO-aligned Partnership for Peace: Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Romania, Switzerland, Ukraine and Partneship for Peace's newest member, Uzbekistan.
The Washington Post on January 6 reported that Cold War-era trade restrictions on Armenia, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan would soon be lifted. Kyrgyzstan and Georgia were exempted in 2000. While the restrictions were imposed in 1974, supposedly on the basis of the Soviet republics' poor human rights records, US officials admit that the only thing that has changed is that the ruling elite of these countries no longer call themselves “communist” and are now pro-US.
Military cooperation with Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan began in the late 1990s. Military exercises involving troops from the five former Soviet Central Asian republics and the US have taken place since 1997.
Around 290 military officers and politicians from Central Asian countries have been trained at the US-German sponsored George C. Marshall European Centre for Security Studies in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, since it opened in 1993. Many have risen to the top ranks of their countries' military and government.
“We have soft-pedalled a number of our traditional concerns on human rights. That's part of coalition-building. You do it for a larger good, which is the defeat of terrorism”, Lee Hamilton, former Democratic Party chairperson of the US House of Representatives international affairs committee, told the January 6 Washington Post.
