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U.S. dismantles Afghan outposts as it pulls back
Late last year, before leaving Forward Operating Base Tillman for the final time, U.S. troops took apart every bit of the remote outpost near the border with Pakistan, from the dirt-packed barricades to the flat-screen TVs in the intelligence center.Mohibullah Samim, the governor of Paktika province, called it a waste. He said, "I was against dismantling it. It would have been better to hand it over to the Afghan army to keep the border area safe." It's a border outpost. Build one yourself... The mountaintop outpost was long a potent symbol of the American war effort, and military commanders were concerned that it would be a prime target for Islamist insurgents to seize after American troops left. But now it is a symbol of the U.S. withdrawal and the debate over how best to provide for the Afghan forces who will soon be fully responsible for defending their country. As the military coalition begins to bring home most of its troops and tens of billions of dollars in equipment, coalition officials are negotiating with Afghanistan over whether to raze or hand over the many checkpoints, guard towers, isolated outposts and sprawling bases. In weekly meetings, Afghans have asked the coalition not to demolish any more bases, saying that they could continue to serve as security installations or be converted into facilities the government can't afford to build, such as schools. But while many bases are being handed over, U.S. commanders have told Afghan officials that dozens, including Tillman, would have been too challenging to sustain given Afghanistan's limited capabilities. For some Afghans, the loss of these outposts highlights the uneasy reality that they will carry on the war against the Taliban with fewer facilities and far less firepower. Afghan soldiers and police have watched as bases are disassembled, no doubt realizing that coalition troops will be the next to go. Ameen Habibi, a senior Finance Ministry official involved in the talks, said, "Even if these bases are remote, at some point they served a security benefit. They can continue to serve that purpose." But coalition officials are concerned that Afghans will leave strategic outposts unprotected, and perhaps let them fall into enemy hands. They say they're trying to hand over only the infrastructure that Afghan forces will be able to maintain. A U.S. official said the Afghans' "instinct was, at the beginning of this, 'Turn over all your facilities to us and anything you don't want, like Humvees or whatever, leave those behind.' And we said that's the wrong approach. If we were to do that you'd spend all your time, energy and money figuring out what to do with this stuff and how to run it and how to maintain it because you don't have the capacity to do that." Posted by: ryuge 2013-03-05 |
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