US To Permanently Keep 9 Bases In Afghanistan

USA Today reports:

 Karzai said that's how many bases the Americans had requested.

"We are giving the bases, nine bases they want from Afghanistan — in all of Afghanistan," he said.

Karzai said the U.S. wants bases in Kabul; Bagram Air Field, north of the capital; Mazar-e-Sharif in the north; Jalalabad and Gardez near the eastern border with Pakistan; Kandahar and Helmand provinces, which are Taliban strongholds in the south; and Shindand and Herat in western Afghanistan.

The Pentagon has said very little about how and where it would position the troops it keeps in Afghanistan after the international military coalition ends its combat mission in December 2014, mainly because the arrangements must be negotiated with the Afghan government. 

About 66,000 U.S. troops are currently in Afghanistan, down from a peak of about 100,000 in 2010. Germany is the only country to commit its troops after 2014, promising 800.

Gen. Joseph Dunford, the top American commander in Kabul, said recently that he hopes the U.S. and its NATO partners can be partnered with Afghan forces after 2014 in "the four corners" of the country, as well as in Kabul. His comment suggested that the U.S. would have military advisers on at least five bases. Washington also wants to keep some number of special operations forces in the country, and they also would require bases, although the number has never been discussed publicly.

As of May, there were 180 coalition bases in Afghanistan, down from a high of more than 425. The bulk of those are U.S. bases. Altogether, the U.S. and its allies had about 800 installations across Afghanistan in October 2011, including small combat outposts and checkpoints. That number has dropped to about 167.

The Taliban reacted swiftly to Karzai's remarks. Zabiullah Mujahed, the religious movement's spokesman, warned that the longer U.S. forces stay in Afghanistan the longer it will be before peace is achieved.

"The longer the occupiers are here, the longer it will take to find peace," he said in an e-mailed statement. "Afghans want an independent Afghanistan. We will never make any deal on our independence."

Another undecided issue involves the future activities of non-U.S. forces in the NATO-led military coalition. Karzai questioned NATO's intentions post-2014 and set out Afghanistan's demands.

"First NATO told us they are all leaving. Now they are coming and saying 'No we are not going. We are staying,'" he said. "We know they are not going."

But before Afghanistan accepts NATO soldiers, Karzai said he wants each of NATO's 28 member countries to negotiate directly with his government about how many soldiers it wants to keep in Afghanistan, where they will be deployed and how it will benefit the country.

Moreover, Karzai said he wants each NATO country to disclose its plan for providing assistance to Afghanistan, including the kind of aid, how many civilians would be involved and — again — how the aid would benefit his nation.

"We want each NATO country to have a direct relationship with us," Karzai said.