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Afghanistan/South Asia
All Your Base Belong To Us
2004-11-30
Some of the more ominous speculation inside the Beltway concerns the Bush administration's policies towards Iran, including the possibility of an attack. Bolstering Iran's paranoia about being surrounded is the fact that U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan are building a 741-acre military base near the country's western border with Iran. The base is being built in the Holang desert area in Ghorian district Herat province a scant 28 miles from the Iranian frontier. The Combined Forces' Command in Kabul and the Afghan government insist that the base is being built for the Afghan National Army. A press official for the Combined Forces' Command commented, "The U.S. government is building a military base in Ghorian in order to provide transportation facilities for the Afghan National Army."
"Nothing to see here, move along."
The U.S. Provincial Reconstruction Team in Herat maintained that the base would be used for training Afghan National Army soldiers. Iran's consul in Herat Mohammad Ali Najafi said only, "We will express our view after contacting relevant authorities inside my country, who will assess this issue."
Translation: "This is above my pay grade."
Some Afghan military officials are more candid about the implications of the base; ANA General Nader Azemi said, "Creation of a base in a place completely dominating Iranian airspace could provoke an argument from Iran."
Gee, he sez it like "completely dominating Iranian airspace" is a bad thing.
Posted by:Steve

#18  yep - captured first thing
Posted by: Frank G   2004-11-30 7:46:51 PM  

#17  Wasn't H-1 or one of those H-s a base for special ops, like the Aussies, and possibly US forces? It was vewwy vewwy quiet out there newswise, while we were a-rollin' up to Baghdad.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2004-11-30 7:27:21 PM  

#16  Small base. Probably just a base from which the Afghan National Army can do border patrol to halt the mad mullah stampede when the cruise missiles start raining down.
Posted by: Tom   2004-11-30 7:25:40 PM  

#15  10-12,000'...I see an expansion in their future...and hey! Any news on H1, H3, et al in the Western Iraq desert...seems like just this last year they were an Iraqi air base...hmmmm
Posted by: Frank G   2004-11-30 7:19:57 PM  

#14  10-12,000 feet minimum for B52's...

I'm just sayin'
Posted by: mojo   2004-11-30 7:07:48 PM  

#13  This base, if it was square, would be 1.1 miles on a side. if it was more rectangular than square, then it would be more of the shape for an airfield. So I would see the base as more for troops and tactical aircraft. I would think that you would want an airfield at least 5000 ft long. You need some room for a perimeter and security, too.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2004-11-30 6:25:48 PM  

#12  I'll bet they've still got a whole lot of B-52's. First time I drove by DM it was in the summer and it loked like a sail boat regatta till I got to the fence and saw they were tails of BUFFs.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis   2004-11-30 6:13:52 PM  

#11  Yeap,Mike.Use to pass by thier everyday,F-4's,104'S,F-15'S,16's,c-130's,you name it they probably got it.
Posted by: raptor   2004-11-30 5:59:22 PM  

#10  Let somebody slip that its a refueling point for the Israeli's so they can make it home "afterwards", and then we'll see the spittle fly.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats   2004-11-30 4:39:34 PM  

#9  Shipman:

Gee, what a great thought: "Hey hey hey ! Lookee over here at our big scary base in Afghanistan lookee lookee !" then *wham* from Incirlik....
Posted by: Carl in N.H.   2004-11-30 3:38:02 PM  

#8  There's gotta be some not-quite-the-best-but-still-pretty-durned-good planes sitting at Davis-Monthan we could let Iraq and Afghanistan have.
Posted by: Mike   2004-11-30 3:34:30 PM  

#7  Are we going to buy the Afgan national airforce MIG-29(s)

Might be a good idea if they had a few hundred. It would make the Russians very happy. How about making Iran bankrupt just like the former USSR.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom   2004-11-30 3:28:20 PM  

#6  This is the base for "show".
Posted by: Shipman   2004-11-30 3:27:58 PM  

#5  Tick... tick... tick...
Posted by: Dave D.   2004-11-30 3:08:30 PM  

#4  Don't the Iraqis need a base 28 miles from the other Iranian border? I think they DO! This would be useful "in order to provide transportation facilities for the Afghan IRAQI National Army"
Posted by: justrand   2004-11-30 3:08:02 PM  

#3  "Oh, was that your air force? Sorry, my bad..."
Posted by: mojo   2004-11-30 2:54:08 PM  

#2  Was that a strangled *urk* sound we just heard from Tehran, or an aftershock from Bam?
Posted by: Seafarious   2004-11-30 2:53:37 PM  

#1  ROFL! It's hard to see how the Mad Mullahs can "ratchet up" the screech to include this new development, I thought they were banging against the ceiling already, but they've never let me down before, so... let a new round begin! LOL!
Posted by: .com   2004-11-30 2:50:03 PM  

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