U.S. bases vex Afghans

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5721490&cKey=1114501836000

<snip>The possibility of permanent U.S. bases came to the fore in February when U.S. Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican, said during an Afghan visit they would be in the interests of U.S. and regional security. snip

But both he and Rumsfeld sidestepped the question as to whether that would entail permanent bases.

The possibility of permanent U.S. bases is sensitive in a country that battled 19th century British colonialists and occupying Soviet forces from 1979 to 1989. snip

Rabbani is politically close to many of the old mujahideen, or holy warrior, commanders who opposed Soviet occupation in the 1980s and the Taliban in the 1990s.

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[izzie]

1. Are you saying that people can pick to have a base?

I can not pick to even keep my local ship yard. I am sure it is what the big corp. want. Sorry.

[leftchick]

2. From the end...

~snip~

Some say the international community should speed up training Afghanistan's new army, rather than set up bases.

"They are spending hundreds of millions of dollars in their operations against the Taliban," said Aqila, 25, a Kabul University student. "Why can't they allocate a portion of that and focus on speeding up training."

About 26,000 soldiers have now been trained. The target is 70,000-strong force, complete with an air force, by 2009.

...Why? The answer is back up in the article...

~snip~

While Washington says it wants to prevent Afghanistan being used as a "breeding ground for terrorists", the country also has strategic significance given its border with Iran, which the United States has warned not to produce nuclear weapons, and its proximity to Central Asian energy sources.

[daleo]

3. It might take a decade or two

But the Afghanis will probably run the neo-cons out of their country.

[struggle4progress]

4. kick

[IndianaGreen]

5. Of course, no one bothered to ask the Afghan people about this

American democracy is nothing but an illusion!