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BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan — Seen from a tiny village on a recent moonless night, the sprawling U.S. base three miles to the north looks more like a city than a military facility in a war zone.
Bagram Air Field, as the base is formally known, is the largest U.S. military hub of the war in Afghanistan and is home to 24,000 military personnel and civilian contractors. And it continues to grow.With tens of millions of dollars pouring into expanding and upgrading facilities, Bagram is turning into something of a military "boom town." Large swaths of the 5,000-acre base look like a construction site, with the rumble of heavy machinery and the scream of fighter jets overhead.The main road at Bagram, which was a major Soviet base during Moscow’s 1979-89 occupation of Afghanistan, is a tree-lined thoroughfare called "Disney drive," and it’s as congested as any downtown street at rush hour.The lines are long at overcrowded food halls, American fast food outlets, cafes, PX stores and ATMs.Plans are under way to build a $22 million passenger terminal and a cargo yard costing $9 million. To increase cargo capacity, a parking ramp supporting the world’s largest aircraft is to be completed this spring.Elsewhere at Bagram, construction has begun on permanent brick-and-mortar housing for troops and headquarters for military units, said Lt. Col. Troy Joslin, chief of Bagram’s operations.Hundreds of Afghan builders arrive by bus every morning.The water, electricity and waste-management systems are being upgraded. The Army Corps of Engineers is increasing the capacity of roads and building new ones.The base command will acquire more land next year for further expansion, Joslin said.
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