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Junk big business in Bagram - 30th June 2021

Bagram airbase in Afghanistan has served as the US military high command in Afghanistan. However, in advance of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre, the US troops are pulling out and the base is about to close.

Much of the military and office equipment has already been transported back to the States, or given to Afghan forces. The remainder is being broken apart and abandoned.

Consequently, Bagram has seen a surge in business for scrap merchants and salvage experts, with contracts granted to big companies who pick out items of value. The rest is left to small operators, who rent plots along the road to the base and are actively retrieving metals from electrical equipment.

Despite the potential for profits, even those benefiting from the junk question the destruction.

Mir Salam: "Instead of destroying all these materials, they should have left them intact and given them to the public or the government. The government could make good use of it. If they had used it properly, then it could have rebuilt our country by now.”

As the nerve centre for US operations in Afghanistan, Bagram soon became a sprawling mini city. Swimming pools, shops, cinemas, spas and a street buzzing with fast food eateries sprang up in the town. A detention centre for hundreds of captured Taliban fighters was also established.

Many Afghans found employment through the base and its surrounding area. Concern about their own fate, and that of the community, now preoccupies their thoughts.

Lalah Shrin Raoufi, the Bagram District Governor, expresses his concern.

Lalah Shrin Raoufi: "I am not optimistic with the US forces withdrawal at this crucial time, as a resident of Bagram. The US forces presence in Bagram district has provided jobs for many thousands of people. People get work and are busy there and can earn money to live."