US Spent Fortune Improving Abandoned Base

by Aero-News Senior Correspondent Kevin R.C. "Hognose" O'Brien

The US Base at Karshi-Khanabad is no more. The base where I spent way too much time at a Special Forces FOB in 2002-03 is now back in Uzbek hands after a ceremony on Monday, November 21, 2005, in which the last US commander handed over a set of symbolic keys, and the US flag was struck down and folded. (The Uzbekistan flag already flew over "their" section of the base; the US camp was all-new and was built in what had been an open mud field, and still was when it rained).

Later this week, the Uzbek government followed up by NATO (mostly German) forces out of their Uzbek base, at Termez on the Oxus River (Amu Darya) which defines the Uzbekistan-Afghanistan border.

The Uzbek government of Soviet-era president Islam Karimov (last election, 99% point something) had ordered the US out by year's end after the US criticized the Uzbek response to anti-government riots last spring, which included both pro-democracy and pro-Islamist elements. The government reacted to the riots by gunning down hundreds of protesters, sparking harsh criticism from the US.

European powers were more muted in their criticism, but NATO suspended a cooperation agreement last month, and the European Union recently forbade 12 specific Uzbek officers from entering the EU; the 12 officers were reportedly involved in the spring crackdown.

Khanabad Air Base near the Silk Road city of Karshi, long home to the Uzbekistan Air Force's strike force of Su-27s, Su-27s and Mi-29s, was an important command post and logistics base early in the war in Afghanistan. US Forces knew it as Karshi-Khanabad or "K2." Originally, it was arranged for one SF FOB and four USAF special operations airplanes, MC- and AC-130s.

The MC-130 crews were highly prized by the Army special operators because they would not be deterred from landing by a few ineptly filled bomb craters on a runway, or a little gunfire around the periphery of the airfield. The "slick" C-130 crews might well have been equally fearless, but they operated under more restrictive regulations, that made them pass more hazardous areas by.

Later, the special ops C-130s were joined by Air Rescue HH-60s and their aircrews and pararescue jumpers.

But over the years, the base grew, and became much more involved in entertaining and feeding its own staff, which peaked as a micro-city of well over 5,000 logistical troops. In the current GI slang, it had become a "self-licking ice cream cone" all but inconsequential to the war.

Long before the riots of April 2005 started the chain reaction which led to this week's furling of the US flag, the special operators had withdrawn. By then, apart from fresh foods which came from Europe and were shipped overland by truck to Kandhar and Bagram in Afghanistan, the only contribution the base made to the Coalition effort in Afghanistan was as a trans-shipment point for humanitarian aid.

A great deal of money was spent, both renting it from the Uzbeks, and improving the facilities. After the SOF troops were joined by support elements, several headquarters buildings were built, each larger and grander than the last.

Many American veterans will remember K2 for its mud, its dust, and its environmental health hazards. The SF FOB gratefully moved from a hardened aircraft shelter into a sturdy plywood building hastily assembled by a Reserve construction unit, after the HAS was discovered to have hazardous levels of ionizing radiation (this base was once the home of Soviet nuclear bombers). A USAF combat rescue unit remained in a HAS, as theirs didn't peg the Geiger counter. Other hazards on the former Soviet air base included unexploded ordnance, a chemical minefield to which the map had been lost, and most toxic chemicals known to science.

The cash-strapped Uzbekistan Air Force seldom flew its MiG and Sukhoi airplanes, and then when it did, it only flew the two-seat variants. An Uzbek officer explained that this was to get the maximum pilot training benefit out of each mission.

Originally, the base poured vast quantities of money into the local area, by employing an army of locals almost equal to the number of US troops, by using local contractors to construct many millions of dollars worth of buildings, roads and other works, and by the free-spending of GIs in the nearby city of Karshi, which offered restaurants, night clubs, and sightseeing.

Over the winter of 2002-03 the troops were restricted to base, a restriction which remained in place till US withdrawal.

Sufficient alternatives to the air base exist that there will be no real disruption to the US effort in Afghanistan; the same is true of the NATO base at Termez. Indeed, NATO is considering relocating its logistics hub inside Afghanistan, to the north central city of Mazar-e Sharif. The Uzbek cold shoulder extends even to overflights for humanitarian aid, an imposition that both US and NATO forces have said will not delay or disrupt the flow of assistance to the recovering nation.

Image Credits: The three pictures with this report were taken by Hognose in 2002 and 2003 at this base. The overhead image is from 2001, courtesy SpaceImaging.com (the US area is on the left). To see more of K2, this link leads to a US Air Force photo essay on K2, taken in late January, 2005.

FMI: www.af.mil