Pentagon announces $100 million for U.S. Afghan base expansions

Kabul - The United States government will expand three $100 million military bases in southern Afghanistan, while another bill is pending approval that would fund an additional $1.3 billion for the construction of more military facilities.

Despite President Barack Obama’s pledge of withdrawing troops of Afghanistan by July 2011, the Pentagon announced on Monday that it plans to spend $100 million on three air base expansions, which could increase U.S. military operations in the country in the future, according to a report by the Washington Post. The projects are expected to be completed by the second half of 2011. These bases are strictly for U.S. purposes and not for the Afghan military. The U.S. House and Senate Appropriations committees have approved requests for an additional $1.3 billion in construction projects over a period of years that would build more military facilities in Afghanistan. However, the vote has yet to go to the Senate. All of this money would be on top of the $5.3 billion already approved for the Afghanistan military’s future facilities and national police. Some analysts believe that these constructions projects are building a greater purpose of extending military operations: “These bases are intended for long term operations that have little to do with the current insurgency inside the country,” said Carol Osgood of the Executive Intelligence Review, reports Press TV. “Think about the possibility of a US or Israeli strike on Iran, which seems to be temporarily off the table, but over the long term there are still people pushing for this strategy.”