Bagram base, a US compound in Afghanistan, closes in 20 years

Initially, the base was a symbol of American retaliation for the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. By then it was already a symbol of US efforts, hitherto unsuccessful, to break through Taliban resistance.

Today, the Bagram compound is already without Americans. All US and NATO troops have left the base, and his legacy is controversial, especially among Afghans.

“Bagram has become such a massive military installation that the base, like several other sites in Afghanistan and even Iraq, has become a symbol of mission stagnation,” said Andrew Watkins, an analyst at the International Crisis Group.

The United States and NATO only end their mission in the country almost 20 years after the start of military operations in Afghanistan and must return the last troops here before 9/11.

I found a destroyed complex

Already last week, the US military announced that half of the base was ready to move, and it is now known that it finally left. Control of the Bagram base is now being taken over by Afghan forces; It is not clear if for long, as the position of the Taliban in the country increases every day.

The withdrawal of the Americans from this particular object is full of symbolism, also because it is through Bagram that the world’s second great power is leaving the country.

The airfield was built by the Soviets in the 1960s. When the USSR invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the facility became an important base for Soviet troops and remained so for a decade in the fight against the US-backed mujahideen.

The campaign in Afghanistan ended in disgrace for the Soviets, who withdrew after negotiations in 1989.

As early as the fall of 2001, international coalition soldiers who pushed the Taliban into the mountains and caves found the Bagram base destroyed: buildings destroyed by missiles and artillery, and a broken fence.

Three years later, the communist government collapsed here, and after the mujahideen enraged and killed thousands of civilians, the Taliban seized power in 1996.

As early as the fall of 2001, international coalition soldiers who pushed the Taliban into the mountains and caves found the Bagram base destroyed: buildings destroyed by missiles and artillery, and a broken fence.

The work began immediately. Together with friendly Afghan tribal commanders, the base was rebuilt; the structures were initially temporary and later acquired a permanent form. The complex grew at lightning speed and occupied an area of ​​77 square kilometers at a time.

Trash – sad and symbolic

“The closure of Bagram is a great symbolic and strategic victory for the Taliban,” said Bill Roggio, an expert with the Democracy Defense Foundation. “If the Taliban occupy a base, they will have many years to fuel anti-American propaganda.”

Occupying a base would also be a major achievement in the military sense. The huge complex is equipped with two runways, the most recent of which was 96 million. USD installed in 2006.

Bill Roggio: The closure of Bagram is a great symbolic and strategic victory for the Taliban.

There are up to 110 aircraft seats that are protected from explosions by thick walls. Bagram is also home to three large hangars, an air traffic control center tower, a 50-seat hospital, three operational and modern dental clinics.

The next section features gyms and fast food restaurants. Yet there is also a prison that Afghans fear terribly, not without reason.

Jonathan Schroden, a CNA expert at the US-based research and analysis organization, estimates that there have been a total of more than 100,000 people living in Bagram in two decades. Many American soldiers associate life on this base with the experience of serving in Afghanistan.

“The departure of the last American troops from Bagram is closing the last page of the book,” Schroden said.

Afghans in the Bagram district, where there are about 100 villages, rejoiced at the Bagram base, for which it had become a source of income. True, some of them are now unhappy that the Americans are simply destroying some of the equipment stored in the compound and dropping the debris.

“It is sad and symbolic. The decision to take so much of everything and destroy so much to leave really speaks volumes about the rush of Americans to leave as soon as possible.

Garbage is not the most beautiful parting gift for Afghans, who will now take control of the base, “said Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the Wilson Center (USA).

What will happen to the prison?

In fact, there is no shortage of comparisons with the withdrawal of the forces of the USSR. Retired Afghanistan General Saifullah Safi, who worked with US troops in Bagram, recalls that the Soviets left all the equipment: “They didn’t take much, just the transport that took the troops home.”

The base prison has been run by Afghans since 2012. But this was not always the case: in the early years of the war, Bagram had become synonymous with fear for the local population, like the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba.

Parents even threatened their crying children, that is, in Bagram prison. Because in the early years of the invasion by the United States and its allies, Afghans often disappeared for several months, and the truth only became apparent when the International Committee of the Red Cross found them in Bagram.

Some detainees returned home with stories of torture. Zabihullah, who has spent six years in Bagram prison and is accused of terrorist activity, recalls: “When someone mentions Bagram, I immediately hear screams of pain.”

According to Roggio, the fate of the prison is very important: many prisoners are known members of the Taliban leader or members of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State. Bagram is still estimated to have some 7,000 prisoners. people.

“If the base falls and the Taliban occupy the prison, these detainees will certainly be able to join the ranks of terrorist groups,” the analyst said.