Afghans call Bagram US Air Force base “Obama’s Gitmo”

By detaining people during night raids and torturing them in Afghan field prisons, the US military officials are not battling the insurgency, but actually creating it, believes investigative journalist Anand Gopal.

“I do not think it is realistic that they are going to pull out [of Afghanistan] by the end of 2011,” said Gopal, adding that American troops in Afghanistan will be there for five to seven years. “It really depends on how the war turns in the next couple of years.”

“The Afghan state cannot survive without foreign [funding]. If the US government stops financing it, the Afghan government will collapse tomorrow. The military, the police – everything is propped up by the US. So they completely rely on the United States,” explained Gopal.

The next year is going to be crucial for US forces in Afghanistan, predicts Anand Gopal, because “it will really test whether the troop surges work.”