US to spend $1.3 billion on Afghanistan bases

by Bill Van Auken from World Socialist Web Site. 

While President Obama insisted when announcing his plans for an Afghanistan “surge” that the US had no intentions of permanently occupying the country, the base construction proposals suggest the opposite. Plans are being implemented based on the assumption that US military forces will be fighting there for years if not decades to come. This protracted war is being waged not to defeat “terrorism” or promote democracy in Afghanistan, but to secure US hegemony in the energy-rich and geo-strategically vital region of Central Asia.

 As cutbacks and a ruined economy are forcing young people to look to the military for jobs, health care, and advanced educational opportunities, the military-industrial complex continues on its merry way.