US military hardware was left to be looted:’Billions Worth Equipment’ Missing From Paktika Base: Governor

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FOB Sharana was initially established as Camp Kearney on 21 November 2004. This was followed by the construction of an airstrip and helicopter landing zone. It was completed in 2005 and the name officially changed to Forward Operating Base (FOB) Sharana. The perimeter of the FOB grew steadily through 2007. It was a hub to many construction projects and vocational training that went on in Paktika Province.

Opening on 1 March 2011, The SPC Jordan Byrd Trauma Center provided combat medical services for the region. The center was named in honor of Specialist Jordan Byrd, a Task Force Red Currahee medic from Company A, 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, who had died in YahYa Khel District the previous October while saving another soldier.

The FOB was dismantled and returned to the Afghan Government on 1 October 2013. The site is now used as Sharana public airfield with scheduled flights to Kabul.

Paktika governor says that high-ranking officials, as well as some MPs, are involved in the case.

“Billions of dollars” worth equipment at an abandoned US base in Paktika province in the east of Afghanistan have been “stolen” by local officials and some lawmakers after the camp was handed to Afghan forces in 2014, the provincial governor Mujib Rahman Samkanai claimed.

The Provincial Reconstruction Team’s (PRT) base named Camp Kearney is located a five-minute drive east of the governor’s compound on the way to Urgun district which is another major city of Paktika.

The governor said each and every official have taken their part from the remains of the base after the US forces handed the installation to the local forces.

“There was equipment worth seven billion dollars at the PRT base and all of them were looted,” the governor said. “Former governors, commanders, mayors, directors, parliament members all are involved in this act.”

Samkanai, who took his office as governor of Paktika four months ago, did not name any specific official who according to him were involved in the case.

“They entered the PRT base and looted it. Based on my information, they even looted locked containers full of computers, weapons, and even Humvees and Pickup vehicles had existed at the base,” Samkanai said.

Paktika Police Chief Gen. Ghulam Sakhi Rogh Lewanai, meanwhile, admitted that military equipment is missing.

“I have shared the issue with the Ministry of Interior and the issue was also discussed in the provincial administration session and was also discussed in the coordination council that old equipment is on the verge of destruction, so let’s use the equipment for strengthening our strongholds instead of being destroyed by dust,” said Lewanai.

One Paktika resident, who is familiar with the base, said there is a need for clarification on the issue by local officials.

“In the end of 2013 and 2014, American forces left the base and handed equipment worth nearly $8 billion to the Afghan government but after their withdrawal from the base, most of the equipment were looted and this all happened under the administration of former governor Mohibullah Samim and other high-ranking officials,” Paktika resident Yaqub Manzoor claimed.

“According to fresh information, equipment worth $1billion still exist at the ba

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Tolo News