700 MILITARY BASES IN AFGHANISTAN

"... approximately 700 bases of every size dot the Afghan countryside... are under construction or soon will be as part of a base-building boom that began last year... this base-building program is staggering in size and scope, and heavily dependent on supplies imported from abroad, which means that it is also extraordinarily expensive... Lieutenant General Robert Van Antwerp, commander of the Army Corps of Engineers... (said) “You have to bring in the lumber, you have to bring in the steel, you have to bring in the containers and all that. Transport isn’t easy in this country -- number one, the roads themselves, number two, coming through other countries to get here -- there are just huge challenges in getting the materials here...”

"It... raises questions about just how long, after the planned beginning of a drawdown of American forces in 2011, the U.S. will still be garrisoning Afghanistan..."

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/02/10-0#