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Six years into war, U.S. base expands as troop levels grow

By By JASON STRAZIUSOAssociated P
Published October 7, 2007

BAGRAM, Afghanistan - Six years after the first U.S. bombs began falling on Afghanistan's Taliban government and its al-Qaida guests, America is planning for a long stay.

Originally envisioned as a temporary home for invading U.S. forces, the sprawling American base at Bagram, a former Soviet outpost in the shadow of the towering Hindu Kush mountains, is growing in size by nearly a third.

Today the United States has about 25,000 troops in the country, and other NATO nations contribute another 25,000, more than three times the number of international troops in the country four years ago, when the Taliban appeared defeated.

The Islamic militia has come roaring back since then, and 2007 has been the battle's bloodiest year yet.

Barnett R. Rubin, an expert on Afghanistan at New York University, said U.S. leaders in Washington "utterly failed" to understand what was needed to consolidate that original Taliban rout, which started with airstrikes on Oct. 7, 2001, less than a month after the Sept. 11 attacks in Washington and New York.

"The Bush administration did not see Afghanistan as a long-term commitment, and its leaders deceived themselves into thinking they had won an irreversible victory. They did not consider Afghanistan important and always intended to focus on Iraq," he said.

"Now the U.S. and international community have fallen way behind, and the Taliban are winning strategically, even if we defeat them in every tactical engagement," he added.

At Bagram, new barracks will help accommodate the record number of U.S. troops in the country.

"We've grown in our commitment to Afghanistan by putting another brigade (of troops) here, and with that we know that we're going to have an enduring presence," said Col. Jonathan Ives. "So this is going to become a long-term base for us, whether that means five years, 10 years - we don't know."

Insurgents have launched more than 100 suicide attacks this year. More than 5,100 people - mostly militants - have died in insurgency-related violence so far this year, according to an Associated Press count based on figures from Afghan and Western officials. That outpaces last year's violence, when the count topped 4,000 for the entire year.

At least 87 U.S. troops have also died so far this year, also a record pace. About 90 U.S. service members were killed in all of last year.

Wide areas of the south - in Helmand, Kandahar and Uruzgan provinces - are controlled by the Taliban, and the fighting is migrating north, into Ghazni province - where 23 South Koreans were kidnapped in July - and Wardak, right next door to Kabul, the capital.

Osama bin Laden, whose presence here was a trigger for the U.S.-led attack, is still at large, possibly hiding in the mountains along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

And Afghan farmers this year grew a record amount of opium poppy, prompting officials to draw up plans to use the military in drug interdiction missions against traffickers.

Still, U.S. commanders point out that military operations have killed more than 50 Taliban commanders this year, causing at least a temporary disruption in the militants' abilities.

U.S. soldier, 4 Afghans killed in suicide bombing

A suicide car bomber attacked an American military convoy on the road to Kabul's airport on Saturday, killing a U.S. soldier and four Afghans and sending flames shooting into the sky, officials said. The Health Ministry said 12 Afghans were wounded. The bombing - on the eve of the sixth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan - threw several vehicles on their side. President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack and said the violence is forced upon Afghanistan from abroad - a reference to Pakistan, where many Taliban fighters come from.

[Last modified October 7, 2007, 02:01:13]