KABUL, 27 April 2005 — The question of permanent US military bases is vexing many people in Afghanistan, which has a long history of resisting foreign intervention, and it could become a hot election issue, analysts said yesterday.
The possibility of permanent US bases came to the fore in February when US Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, said during an Afghan visit they would be in the interests of US and regional security.
President Hamid Karzai had appeared to favor permanent US bases and his defense minister said this month Afghanistan was eager for “enduring arrangements” with the United States that could include permanent air bases. Karzai, asked about bases at a news conference with US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld this month, sidestepped the question saying he planned to ask US President George W. Bush for long-term security protection for Afghanistan.
He yesterday reiterated his desire for a broad security arrangement but said bases may not be right. “I don’t think the establishment of bases is in the interest of Afghanistan,” he told a news conference. “We don’t want only bases. We want a commitment from America for helping Afghanistan, for stopping any possible foreign meddling.”
Meanwhile, a policeman and an assailant were killed in a firefight during an operation yesterday by authorities to destroy a poppy crop in southern Afghanistan, an official said. The gunfight occurred when police ordered a group of three men to stop for a weapons search in the fields in Arghandab district in Kandahar province.
“One of the men got on to his bike and fled. He started firing at us when we gave chase, killing one of our policeman,” Arghandab police chief Azmarai told AFP. The man, whom Azmarai claimed was linked to the Taleban, was then killed by other policemen. The two other men were released after it was established they had no connection with the assailant.
In another development, nearly 70,000 children have been locked out of school in western Afghanistan because their teachers have gone on strike for more pay, a provincial governor said yesterday. Improving the education system, largely neglected during years of war and Taleban rule, is a top priority for the new government but funding is a chronic problem.
