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67-655: Bagram Airfield-BAF , also known as Bagram Air Base ( IATA : OAI , ICAO : OAIX ), is located 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) southeast of Charikar in the Parwan Province of Afghanistan . It is under the Afghan Ministry of Defense . Sitting on the site of the ancient Bagram at an elevation of 1,492 metres (4,895 ft) above sea level , the air base has two concrete runways . The main one measures 3,602 by 46 metres (11,819 ft × 151 ft), capable of handling large military aircraft, including

134-528: A company of the 345th Regiment took part in Operation Storm-333 . The 345th Airborne Regiment had participated in most major operations of the conflict, including the Battle for Hill 3234 , which became the basis for the script of the film The 9th Company . On or about 11 February 1989 the regiment withdrew from Afghanistan making it one of the last detachments to exit the country. After

201-749: A "boom town". According to the article: "Official U.S. policy is not to create a permanent occupation force in Afghanistan. But it is clear from what's happening at Bagram Airfield—the Afghan end of the Charleston -to-Afghanistan lifeline—that the U.S. military won't be packing up soon." In November 2009, construction of the Parwan Detention Facility was completed. It housed about 3,000 inmates, mostly insurgents who were fighting against Afghanistan and NATO -led forces . In March 2010,

268-542: A Navy SEAL team. The Parwan Detention Facility (PDF) was completed in 2009 and is located at Bagram Airfield. It was the main detention facility for persons detained by U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The older detention facility, which was located at a different site, has been criticized in the past for alleged torture and prisoner abuse . In 2005, The New York Times reported that two detainees had been beaten to death by guards in December 2002. Amnesty International used

335-459: A car bomb exploded outside the gates of Bagram Airfield facilities, wounding three civilian workers. In June 2009, two U.S. soldiers were killed and at least six other personnel were wounded during an early morning rocket attack. In October 2009, The State reported on Bagram's expansion. It reported that Bagram was currently undergoing US$ 200 million expansion projects, and called the Airfield

402-602: A location to brief journalists, with his headquarters nearby. Reports also indicated that Northern Alliance rocket attacks on Kabul had been staged from Bagram, possibly with Russian-made FROG-7 Rockets. In 2000, the Taliban took over control and forced the Northern Alliance to retreat further to the north. During the US-led retribution on the Taliban for harboring the terrorist organization responsible for 9/11 ,

469-567: A new airport is built, replacing the old one, leaving the city's new "major" airport (or the only remaining airport) code to no longer correspond with the city's name. The original airport in Nashville, Tennessee, was built in 1936 as part of the Works Progress Administration and called Berry Field with the designation, BNA. A new facility known as Nashville International Airport was built in 1987 but still uses BNA. This

536-600: A rocket attack killed 2 civilian contractors as they slept in their B hut on the southern part of the field. On 28 November 2019, U.S. President Donald Trump visited the Bagram Airfield for the first time to celebrate Thanksgiving with the U.S. troops there. As part of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan , after nearly 20 years of continuous U.S. presence at the site, the Bagram Air Base was secretly evacuated by

603-549: A year after Afghan Prime Minister Daud Khan toured the United States, U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower landed at Bagram Airfield where he was greeted by King Zahir Shah and Daud Khan among other Afghan officials. In 1976, the original runway 3,000-metre long (10,000 ft), was built. The airport at Bagram was maintained by the Afghan Air Force (AAF) with some support from the United States. During

670-509: Is GSN and its IATA code is SPN, and some coincide with IATA codes of non-U.S. airports. Canada's unusual codes—which bear little to no similarity with any conventional abbreviation to the city's name—such as YUL in Montréal , and YYZ in Toronto , originated from the two-letter codes used to identify weather reporting stations in the 1930s. The letters preceding the two-letter code follow

737-554: Is available. However, many railway administrations have their own list of codes for their stations, such as the list of Amtrak station codes . Airport codes arose out of the convenience that the practice brought pilots for location identification in the 1930s. Initially, pilots in the United States used the two-letter code from the National Weather Service (NWS) for identifying cities. This system became unmanageable for cities and towns without an NWS identifier, and

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804-523: Is different from the name in English, yet the airport code represents only the English name. Examples include: Due to scarcity of codes, some airports are given codes with letters not found in their names: The use of 'X' as a filler letter is a practice to create three-letter identifiers when more straightforward options were unavailable: Some airports in the United States retained their NWS ( National Weather Service ) codes and simply appended an X at

871-671: Is governed by IATA Resolution 763, and it is administered by the IATA's headquarters in Montreal , Canada. The codes are published semi-annually in the IATA Airline Coding Directory. IATA provides codes for airport handling entities, and for certain railway stations. Alphabetical lists of airports sorted by IATA code are available. A list of railway station codes , shared in agreements between airlines and rail lines such as Amtrak , SNCF , and Deutsche Bahn ,

938-513: Is in conjunction to rules aimed to avoid confusion that seem to apply in the United States, which state that "the first and second letters or second and third letters of an identifier may not be duplicated with less than 200 nautical miles separation." Thus, Washington, D.C. area's three airports all have radically different codes: IAD for Washington–Dulles , DCA for Washington–Reagan (District of Columbia Airport), and BWI for Baltimore (Baltimore–Washington International, formerly BAL). Since HOU

1005-543: Is not followed outside the United States: In addition, since three letter codes starting with Q are widely used in radio communication, cities whose name begins with "Q" also had to find alternate codes, as in the case of: IATA codes should not be confused with the FAA identifiers of U.S. airports. Most FAA identifiers agree with the corresponding IATA codes, but some do not, such as Saipan , whose FAA identifier

1072-416: Is used for William P. Hobby Airport , the new Houston–Intercontinental became IAH. The code BKK was originally assigned to Bangkok–Don Mueang and was later transferred to Suvarnabhumi Airport , while the former adopted DMK. The code ISK was originally assigned to Gandhinagar Airport (Nashik's old airport) and later on transferred to Ozar Airport (Nashik's current airport). Shanghai–Hongqiao retained

1139-697: Is usually guaranteed to all prisoners; the existence of a second prison was denied by U.S. authorities. In the 1950s, Bagram airfield was originally built by the Soviet Union during the early period of the Cold War , at a time when the United States and the neighboring Soviet Union were spreading political influence in Afghanistan. While the United States was focusing on Afghanistan, the Soviets were strengthening ties with Fidel Castro 's regime in Cuba . In 1959,

1206-467: The 455th Air Expeditionary Wing of the U.S. Air Force , along with rotating units of the U.S. and coalition forces. It was expanded and modernized by the Americans. There is also a hospital with 50 beds, three operating theatres and a modern dental clinic. Kabul International Airport is located approximately 40 km (25 mi) south of Bagram, connected by two separate roads. On 15 August 2021,

1273-571: The Canadian transcontinental railroads were built, each station was assigned its own two-letter Morse code : When the Canadian government established airports, it used the existing railway codes for them as well. If the airport had a weather station, authorities added a "Y" to the front of the code, meaning "Yes" to indicate it had a weather station or some other letter to indicate it did not. When international codes were created in cooperation with

1340-533: The Lockheed Martin C-5 Galaxy . The second runway measures 2,953 by 26 metres (9,687 ft × 85 ft). The air base also has at least three large hangars, a control tower, numerous support buildings, and various housing areas. There are also more than 13 hectares (32 acres) of ramp space and five aircraft dispersal areas, with over 110 revetments . Bagram Air Base was formerly the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan, staffed by

1407-714: The Soviet Airborne Forces , and after 1992, the Russian Airborne Forces , was active from 1944 to 1998. It was formed on 30 December 1944 at Lapichi , Osipovichi district, Mogilev Oblast , in the Byelorussian SSR . In 1979, after the disbandment of 105th Guards Vienna Airborne Division it received a Separate Regiment designation (345th OPPD). Originally, the regiment was a part of 105th Guards Rifle Division, which then became 105th Guards Airborne Division stationed at Fergana in

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1474-752: The Uzbek SSR . The regiment was attached to 40th Army (Soviet Union) headquartered in Kabul , serving in Afghanistan from the earliest days of the conflict, arriving on 14 December 1979. The Regiment was based in Bagram (its 2nd Battalion in ( Bamian ), and later – Anab ). During the Regiment's deployment in Afghanistan, its original 1st Battalion remained on station in Fergana, Uzbek SSR, and in 1982 became

1541-847: The 10th Mountain Division, were providing force protection at Bagram. The troops patrolled the base perimeter, guarded the front gate, and cleared the runway of explosive ordnance. As of early January 2002, the number of 10th Mountain Division troops had grown to about 400 soldiers. There were numerous dining facilities at Bagram Airfield. Troops and civilians had various dining options that included Pizza Hut , Subway , an Afghan restaurant, as well as Green Beans coffee shops. In late January 2002, there were somewhere around 4,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, of which about 3,000 were at Kandahar International Airport , and about 500 were stationed at Bagram. The runway began to be repaired by US, Italian, and Polish military personnel. By mid-June 2002, Bagram Airfield

1608-473: The 1980s Soviet–Afghan War , it played a key role, serving as a hub for the Limited Contingent of Soviet Forces in Afghanistan operations and a base for its troops and supplies. Bagram was also the initial staging point for the invading Soviet forces at the beginning of the conflict, with elements of two Soviet Airborne Troops ' divisions being deployed there. Aircraft based at Bagram, including

1675-464: The 368th Assault Aviation Regiment flying Su-25s , provided close air support for Soviet and Afghan troops in the field. The 368th Assault Aviation Regiment was stationed at Bagram from October 1986 to November 1987. Some of the Soviet land forces based at Bagram included the 108th Motor Rifle Division and the 345th Independent Guards Airborne Regiment of the 105th Guards Airborne Division. Following

1742-566: The Afghan government requested that control of the Parwan Detention Facility be handed over to the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). The Heathe N. Craig Joint Theater Hospital on the base is 50 bed military hospital named after SSG Heathe N. Craig , a United States Army medic who died while trying to save a wounded comrade. IATA airport code The assignment of these codes

1809-509: The Taliban and losing control of the airfield. On 9 March 2024, National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF) fighters claimed responsibility for an attack which killed the Bagram Division's chief of staff. On 14 August 2024, the Taliban celebrated their 3 year anniversary of Victory against the United States and Western powers Camp Vance , Afghanistan was the base, 1.4 km from the airfield, established in December 2002 by

1876-407: The U.S. Air Force (USAF) installed 150 solar powered lights to address reports of sexual assaults at the base. Eight reported sexual assaults occurred at the base in 2009 involving Airmen; the U.S. Army's sexual assault response team reported treating 45 victims in 2009. The report revealed that most victims knew their attacker. In same month, insurgents attacked an area at the base with rockets. One of

1943-555: The U.S. For example, several airports in Alaska have scheduled commercial service, such as Stebbins and Nanwalek , which use FAA codes instead of ICAO codes. Thus, neither system completely includes all airports with scheduled service. Some airports are identified in colloquial speech by their IATA code. Examples include LAX and JFK . 345th Independent Guards Airborne Regiment [REDACTED]   Russian Armed Forces The 345th Guards Airborne Regiment (345th PPD) of

2010-637: The US during the night on 1 July 2021 and de facto handed back to the Afghan government on 2 July 2021. The last remaining U.S. troops left the base by shutting off the electricity and slipping away in the night without notifying the Afghan Armed Forces . The base was looted by local civilians soon after U.S. forces left the area. The Afghan National Army later took control of the area and arrested some looters. On 15 August 2021, Afghan troops stationed there fell back from their positions, leaving them to

2077-695: The United States Department of Defense to headquarter the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force (CJSOTF) . The camp was named for Gene Arden Vance Jr. , a member of the U.S. Special Forces and a cryptologic linguist who, despite being critically wounded, helped save the lives of two fellow Americans and 18 Afghan soldiers during the hunt for Osama bin Laden in the War in Afghanistan . Camp Vance

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2144-481: The United States, because "Y" was seldom used in the United States, Canada simply used the weather station codes for its airports, changing the "Y" to a "Z" if it conflicted with an airport code already in use. The result is that most major Canadian airport codes start with "Y" followed by two letters in the city's name (for example, YOW for O tta w a , YWG for W innipe g , YYC for C algar y , or YVR for V ancouve r ), whereas other Canadian airports append

2211-440: The airport itself instead of the city it serves, while another code is reserved which refers to the city itself which can be used to search for flights to any of its airports. For instance: Or using a code for the city in one of the major airports and then assigning another code to another airport: When different cities with the same name each have an airport, they need to be assigned different codes. Examples include: Sometimes,

2278-418: The airport's former name, such as Orlando International Airport 's MCO (for Mc C o y Air Force Base), or Chicago's O'Hare International Airport , which is coded ORD for its original name: Or char d Field. In rare cases, the code comes from the airport's unofficial name, such as Kahului Airport 's OGG (for local aviation pioneer Jimmy H ogg ). In large metropolitan areas, airport codes are often named after

2345-408: The attack and said that Cheney was the intended target. Another Taliban spokesman later confirmed that Osama bin Laden planned the attack, and reiterated that Cheney was the intended target. This claim is supported by the relatively limited number of large suicide bombings carried out in Afghanistan, combined with the intensity of this particular attack, and the fact that Cheney was at the base. Cheney

2412-479: The attack. Taliban spokesman claimed 20 armed men wearing suicide vests attacked the base with four detonating explosives at the entrances, but the military spokesman said they failed "to breach the perimeter" and were "unable to detonate their suicide vests." The attackers were dressed in U.S. Army uniforms. Early on the morning of 30 December 2010, Taliban militants fired two rockets on Bagram though no casualties were reported. The insurgents claimed responsibility for

2479-535: The base for formation of the 387th Training Regiment. An Airborne Battalion, which arrived in Afghanistan in July 1979 under the command of Guards Lieutenant Colonel Lomakin, was integrated into the 345th regiment as its new 1st Battalion. In October 1979, an incident resulting in death of KGB officer Captain Chepurnoy had occurred in this battalion, leading to transfer of command to Guards Major Pustovit. 87 troops of

2546-709: The base was secured by a team from the United Kingdom's Special Boat Service . By early December 2001, troops from the 10th Mountain Division shared the base with Special Operations Command officers from MacDill Air Force Base in Florida, Paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division from Fort Bragg , and a small communications team consisting of personnel from the 269th Signal Company, 11th Signal Brigade out of Fort Huachuca . The British force consisted of B and C Companies from 40 Commando , Royal Marines . As of mid-December 2001 more than 300 U.S. troops, mainly with

2613-502: The code SHA, while the newer Shanghai–Pudong adopted PVG. The opposite was true for Berlin : the airport Berlin–Tegel used the code TXL, while its smaller counterpart Berlin–Schönefeld used SXF; the Berlin Brandenburg Airport has the airport code BER, which is also part of its branding. The airports of Hamburg (HAM) and Hannover (HAJ) are less than 100 nautical miles (190 km) apart and therefore share

2680-791: The detention center. In 2005, the number of anti-American militants held at Bagram was 450, but began increasing then. In the same year, four al-Qaeda militants escaped from Bagram detention center. To address the mounting human rights violations and the 2005 escape incident, the U.S. decided to build a more modern detention facility. As of November 2011, more than 3,000 alleged militants and foreign terrorists were detained at PDF, roughly 18 times as many as in Guantanamo Bay . The number increased 5-fold since President Barack Obama took office in January 2009. The detainees included senior members of al-Qaeda and Taliban militant commanders. In 2012,

2747-886: The end. Examples include: A lot of minor airfields without scheduled passenger traffic have ICAO codes but not IATA codes, since the four letter codes allow more number of codes, and IATA codes are mainly used for passenger services such as tickets, and ICAO codes by pilots. In the US, such airfields use FAA codes instead of ICAO. There are airports with scheduled service for which there are ICAO codes but not IATA codes, such as Nkhotakota Airport/Tangole Airport in Malawi or Chōfu Airport in Tokyo, Japan. There are also several minor airports in Russia (e.g., Omsukchan Airport ) which lack IATA codes and instead use internal Russian codes for booking. Flights to these airports cannot be booked through

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2814-622: The entire base fell to Taliban rebel forces after the NATO-trained Afghan National Army had surrendered. All prisoners at the Parwan Detention Facility were released. The International Committee of the Red Cross had revealed that since August 2009 it was informed about inmates of a second prison where detainees are held in isolation and without access to the International Red Cross that

2881-557: The first three letters of the city in which it is located, for instance: The code may also be a combination of the letters in its name, such as: Sometimes the airport code reflects pronunciation, rather than spelling, namely: For many reasons, some airport codes do not fit the normal scheme described above. Some airports, for example, cross several municipalities or regions, and therefore, use codes derived from some of their letters, resulting in: Other airports—particularly those serving cities with multiple airports—have codes derived from

2948-478: The following format: Most large airports in Canada have codes that begin with the letter "Y", although not all "Y" codes are Canadian (for example, YUM for Yuma, Arizona , and YNT for Yantai , China), and not all Canadian airports start with the letter "Y" (for example, ZBF for Bathurst, New Brunswick ). Many Canadian airports have a code that starts with W, X or Z, but none of these are major airports. When

3015-597: The form of " YYZ ", a song by the rock band Rush , which utilizes the Morse code signal as a musical motif. Some airports have started using their IATA codes as brand names , such as Calgary International Airport (YYC) and Vancouver International Airport (YVR). Numerous New Zealand airports use codes that contain the letter Z, to distinguish them from similar airport names in other countries. Examples include HLZ for Hamilton , ZQN for Queenstown , and WSZ for Westport . Predominantly, airport codes are named after

3082-498: The incident. After the 2012 Afghanistan Quran burning protests the United States decided to transfer the running of the Parwan Detention Facility to Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), although the Americans continued to have access to the facility and veto power over the release of inmates. On 18 June 2013, the base was the subject of a mortar attack by Taliban forces, which resulted in four U.S. troops being killed and several others wounded. On Thanksgiving evening in 2013,

3149-487: The international air booking systems or have international luggage transferred there, and thus, they are booked instead through the airline or a domestic booking system. Several heliports in Greenland have 3-letter codes used internally which might be IATA codes for airports in faraway countries. There are several airports with scheduled service that have not been assigned ICAO codes that do have IATA codes, especially in

3216-612: The name of the airport itself, for instance: This is also true with some cities with a single airport (even if there is more than one airport in the metropolitan area of said city), such as BDL for Hartford, Connecticut 's B ra dl ey International Airport or Baltimore's BWI, for B altimore/ W ashington I nternational Airport ; however, the latter also serves Washington, D.C. , alongside Dulles International Airport (IAD, for I nternational A irport D ulles) and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA, for D istrict of C olumbia A irport). The code also sometimes comes from

3283-416: The one they are located in: Other airport codes are of obscure origin, and each has its own peculiarities: In Asia, codes that do not correspond with their city's names include Niigata 's KIJ , Nanchang 's KHN and Pyongyang 's FNJ . EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg , which serves three countries, has three airport codes: BSL, MLH, EAP. Some cities have a name in their respective language which

3350-420: The rockets landed next to a B-Hut in a camp located on the west side of the base killing a Bosnian national, who was working at Bagram as a contract firefighter. In May 2010, a group of "nearly a dozen" insurgents attacked around the north end of the base. The assault left one U.S. contractor dead while nine service members were reported wounded. A spokesman for Bagram said a building was slightly damaged during

3417-506: The same first and middle letters, indicating that this rule might be followed only in Germany. Many cities retain historical names in their airport codes, even after having undergone an official name/spelling/transliteration change: Some airport codes are based on previous names associated with a present airport, often with a military heritage. These include: Some airports are named for an administrative division or nearby city, rather than

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3484-399: The size of a small town, with traffic jams and many commercial shops selling goods from clothes to food. The base itself is situated high up in the mountains and sees temperatures drop to −29 °C (−20 °F). Due to the height and snowstorms commercial aircraft have difficulty landing there, and older aircraft often rely on very experienced crews in order to be able to land there. The base

3551-526: The standard for troops serving here. The wooden structures had no concrete foundation and thus were not considered permanent housing, just an upgrade from the tents, the only option Bagram personnel and troops had seen previously. The small homes offered troops protection from environmental conditions including wind, snow, sand and cold. During 2005, a USO facility was built and named after former pro football player and United States Army Ranger , Pat Tillman . A second runway, 3,500 metres (11,500 ft) long,

3618-426: The standard shelter option for troops. There were several hundred, with plans to build close to 800 of them. The plans were to have nearly 1,200 structures built by 2006, but completion of the project was expected much earlier; possibly by July 2004. The increased construction fell under U.S. Central Command standards of temporary housing and allowed for the building of B-huts on base, not to show permanence, but to raise

3685-500: The station code of Malton, Mississauga , where it is located). YUL is used for Montréal–Trudeau (UL was the ID code for the beacon in the city of Kirkland , now the location of Montréal–Trudeau). While these codes make it difficult for the public to associate them with a particular Canadian city, some codes have become popular in usage despite their cryptic nature, particularly at the largest airports. Toronto's code has entered pop culture in

3752-400: The subsequent criminal investigation said the large majority of detainees were compliant and reasonably well treated. However, some interrogators routinely administered harsh treatment which included alleged beatings, sleep deprivation , sexual humiliation , shackling to ceilings, and threats with guard dogs. Amnesty International has criticized the U.S. government for using dogs in this way at

3819-515: The two-letter code of the radio beacons that were the closest to the actual airport, such as YQX in Gander or YXS in Prince George . Four of the ten provincial capital airports in Canada have ended up with codes beginning with YY, including: Canada's largest airport is YYZ for Toronto Pearson (as YTZ was already allocated to Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport , the airport was given

3886-529: The use of two letters allowed only a few hundred combinations; a three-letter system of airport codes was implemented. This system allowed for 17,576 permutations, assuming all letters can be used in conjunction with each other. Since the U.S. Navy reserved "N" codes, and to prevent confusion with Federal Communications Commission broadcast call signs , which begin with "W" or "K", the airports of certain U.S. cities whose name begins with one of these letters had to adopt "irregular" airport codes: This practice

3953-693: The withdrawal from Afghanistan, the regiment became part of 104th Guards Airborne Division . The Regiment was later relocated to Gudauta in the Abkhaz ASSR of the Georgian SSR . It took part in the April 9, 1989, crack-down on demonstrators in the centre of Tbilisi. Since August 1992 it was stationed in Gudauta Abkhaz ASSR to participate in the Abkhaz war . It was subsequently renamed

4020-532: The withdrawal of the Soviet forces and the rise of the Western-funded and Pakistani-trained mujahideen rebels, Afghanistan plunged into civil war. Many of its support buildings and base housing built by the Soviet Armed Forces during their occupation were destroyed by years of fighting between various warring Afghan factions after the Soviets left. From 1999 onward, control of the base

4087-475: The word "torture" to describe treatment at the detention center. Apart from military and intelligence personnel, the only people officially allowed inside the prison building were Red Cross representatives who inspected the facility once every two weeks. It was reported in February 2009 that detainees had no access to any legal process. Many of the officers and soldiers interviewed by U.S. Army investigators in

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4154-470: Was able to house 10,000 troops in 2009. The 2007 Bagram Airfield bombing was a suicide attack that killed up to 23 people and injured 20 more, at a time when Dick Cheney , then Vice-President of the United States , was visiting Afghanistan. The attack occurred inside one of the security gates surrounding the heavily guarded base. Yousef Ahmadi , one of the Taliban spokesmen, claimed responsibility for

4221-531: Was built and completed by the United States in late 2006, at a cost of US$ 68 million. This new runway is 497 metres (1,631 ft) longer than the previous one and 280 millimetres (11 in) thicker, giving it the ability to land larger aircraft, such as the C-5 Galaxy , C-17 Globemaster III , Il-76 , An-124 , An-225 or the Boeing 747 (which is used by civilian cargo airlines). By 2007, Bagram had become

4288-495: Was contested between the Northern Alliance and Taliban , often with each controlling territory on opposite ends of the airfield. Taliban forces were consistently within artillery and mortar range of the field, denying full possession of the strategic facility to the Northern Alliance. Press reports indicated that at times a Northern Alliance general was using the bombed-out control tower as an observation post and as

4355-567: Was headquartered by U.S. Special Forces troops whose core tasks included advising the Afghan National Army 's special operations forces and local police, training forces associated with the Village Stability Operations (VSO) and counterinsurgency (COIN). The camp also housed highly specialized battalion-level task forces built around Army Special Forces, infantry, a Marine special operations battalion, and

4422-492: Was serving as home to more than 7,000 U.S. and other armed services. Numerous tent areas housed the troops based there, including one named Viper City. It was reported that "Bagram came under daily rocket attack" in 2002 even though most of these attacks went unreported by the press. Landmines were also a serious concern in and around Bagram Airfield. By late 2003, B-huts , 5.5-by-11.0-metre (18 by 36 ft) structures made of plywood designed to hold eight troops, were replacing

4489-522: Was unharmed from the attack, however. Among the dead were a U.S. soldier, a U.S. contractor, a South Korean soldier , and 20 Afghan workers at the base. In 2008, several U.S. service members were accused of accepting bribes for the award of building contracts on Bagram. Four of the Afghans have also faced charges, while three of them have been held as material witnesses . The GI's are reported to have received over 100,000 dollars in bribes. In March 2009,

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