January 29, 2009

U.S. expands Kandahar Airfield in preparation for troop surge

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan

Before more boots hit the ground in southern Afghanistan, more shovels will need to break ground at Kandahar Airfield to build barracks and buildings for thousands of incoming American troops.

Construction is underway at a frenzied pace at the main NATO military base in Kandahar province to prepare for the extra U.S. soldiers deploying to the country in the coming months as part of U.S. President Barack Obama’s troop surge.

Obama intends to add more than 20,000 U.S. troops to the ranks of some 34,000 American soldiers already in Afghanistan. The first wave is supposed to arrive this spring.

In comparison, Canada has about 2,750 soldiers deployed as part of the 51,350-strong International Security Assistance Force, which operates under NATO command in Afghanistan.

“It’s a massive expansion. It’s a staggering amount of work,” said Lt.-Col. John Uptmor, an American engineer in charge of the U.S. expansion at Kandahar Airfield.

“Our biggest challenge is getting everything done by the time they get here.”

The influx of American military and civilian personnel is expected to at least double Kandahar Airfield’s current population of about 12,000 people.

The airfield was originally designed for 5,000 people and infrastructure on the base is already strained. An open-air sewage pond at one end of the base, nicknamed Emerald Lake for its peculiar hue, struggles to cope with all the wastewater dumped into it.

Planning began last fall to expand the airfield, Uptmor said, and crews have been building half-dome sleeping tents, an improved wastewater treatment facility and places to park and service military vehicles.

The “south park” area of the base, where new sleep tents are being built, is itself 1.6 million square metres — and that’s only part of the expansion.

While an exact figure was not available, the expansion is estimated to cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

Canadian Press

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