US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld yesterday arrived on a surprise visit to Afghanistan during which he is expected to discuss the prospect of setting up permanent US bases in the war-torn country.
A day after visiting Iraq, Rumsfeld flew into the southern city of Kandahar, a former Taliban stronghold, at around 10:30am to meet US troops and inspect provincial reconstruction efforts.
He will later travel to Kabul for talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on security, counterterrorism operations and strategies to flush out Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked militants on the Afghan-Pakistan border, officials said.
They are expected to explore the idea of establishing a "forward-operating location" as part of a long-term strategy to keep al-Qaeda and other Islamic militants at bay, as well as a strategic regional logistics and military center.
Declaration
The idea comes from a public declaration by Karzai a year ago about building a long-term security cooperation agreement between the US and Afghanistan, US sources said.
It is believed that the establishment of a permanent operating location should give Washington the right to decide when and how it should be used.
US-led forces ousted the hardline Islamic Taliban regime in late 2001 and more than 18,000 troops from a majority US coalition remain in Afghanistan.
Most are based at either Bagram airbase, just north of Kabul, or at Kandahar airbase, which the US uses to launch raids against insurgents still active in the south and east of the country.
US military officials in Afghanistan last month said that they would spend US$83 million on upgrading the two airbases, a move that is widely seen as a step towards building permanent facilities.
The US also has an operating base at the old Soviet airport of Shindand in the western province of Herat, near the Iranian border, and a forward operating base at Salerno in the southeast of the country, not far from Pakistan.
Renewed offensive
Taliban-led militants are waging a renewed springtime offensive after the bitterest winter in a decade and have mounted a string of recent attacks on US forces as well as Afghan troops and police.
Twelve suspected Taliban militants were killed on Monday in a US airstrike after they attacked a former Afghan militia commander in southeastern Paktia province. Two US soldiers were also wounded.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's first visit to Kabul last month was marked by the explosion of two bombs in Kandahar which killed at least five people and injured 32.
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