Shindand Air Base
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Sabzwar Air Base is an Afghan Air Base located in the western part of
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
in the Sabzwar District of
Herat Province Herat (Persian: ) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the north-western part of the country. Together with Badghis, Farah, and Ghor provinces, it makes up the north-western region of Afghanistan. Its primary city and ...
, 7 miles northeast of the city of Shindand. The runway has a concrete surface. An all weather asphalt road connects it with the
Kandahar–Herat Highway The Kandahar–Herat Highway is section of road that links the cities of Kandahar and Herat in Afghanistan. This highway is part of a larger road network, the "Ring Road", and was first constructed by the Soviets in the 1960s. The Kandahar-H ...
, part of Highway 1 (the national ring road). The base is of great strategic importance being just 75 miles from the border of
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
. It is capable of housing over one hundred military aircraft. It was one of the largest
Afghan Air Force The Air Force of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, also referred to as the Islamic Emirate Air Force and the Afghan Air Force, is the air force branch of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The Royal Afghan Air Force was e ...
bases. For several years, the
U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...
's
838th Air Expeditionary Advisory Group The 838th Air Expeditionary Advisory Group (838 AEAG) was the ISAF host unit at Shindand Air Base that as part of NATO Air Training Command - Afghanistan was training and advising the Afghan Air Force Shindand Air Wing. It was a group of the Uni ...
operated at the base supporting the
NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan The NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan (NTM-A) was a multinational military organisation, activated in November 2009, tasked with providing a higher-level training for the Afghan National Army (ANA) and Afghan Air Force (AAF), including defense ...
. The base may also have been used in the past by the
Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
(CIA) for surveillance missions over western Afghanistan that included use of the
RQ-170 The Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel is an American unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by Lockheed Martin and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). While the USAF has released few detail ...
drone. "Construction of a perimeter fence at Shindand Air Base tripled the size of the base and included 52 guard towers. Force protection was a major component of the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...
(USACE) military construction program in Afghanistan." Shindand also hosted the 3rd Wing of the Afghan Air Force (AAF) until August 2021. In August 2021, Shindand Air Base fell to the
Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...
after a surrender by government forces. It has captured weaponry and vehicles from the
Afghan National Army Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia * Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity **Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...
and
Afghan Air Force The Air Force of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, also referred to as the Islamic Emirate Air Force and the Afghan Air Force, is the air force branch of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The Royal Afghan Air Force was e ...
. On 6 December the Taliban Government reformed the Afghan Air Force.


History

The
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
military began building an airfield near the village of Shindand in 1961 and made heavy use of the base during the 1980s
Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. It saw extensive fighting between the Soviet Union and the Afghan mujahideen (alongside smaller groups of anti-Soviet ...
. Control of the base was taken over from President
Mohammad Najibullah Mohammad Najibullah Ahmadzai (Pashto/ prs, محمد نجیب‌الله احمدزی, ; 6 August 1947 – 27 September 1996), commonly known as Dr. Najib, was an Afghan politician who served as the General Secretary of the People's Democratic Par ...
by forces of the
Islamic State of Afghanistan The Islamic State of Afghanistan ( fa, , ''Dawlat-i Islāmī-yi Afghānistan'', ps, , ''Da Afghanistan Islami Dowlat'') was the government of Afghanistan, established by the Peshawar Accords on 26 April 1992 by many, but not all, Afgh ...
. They were forced to abandon the base in 1997 after the
Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...
took over the country, and the runway sustained massive damage during bombing when coalition forces initially entered Afghanistan in 2002. It was then taken by the 3rd Brigade,
Central Corps The 201 Khalid Ibn Walid Corps is one of the eight corps of the Islamic Emirate Army established in October 2021 and headquartered in Laghman Province, Laghman. The current Chief of Staff is Abdul Rahman Mansoori. The conventional corps of the Is ...
,
Afghan National Army Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia * Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity **Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...
, with advisors from the
U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
, in August 2004 when the country was under the
Karzai administration Hamid Karzai (; Pashto/ fa, حامد کرزی, , ; born 24 December 1957) is an Afghan statesman who served as the fourth president of Afghanistan from July 2002 to September 2014, including as the first elected president of the Islamic Repu ...
. Elements of the 3/ 4 CAV of the 25th Infantry Division arrived two weeks later to reinforce this force. In 2010, the runway of the base was refurbished so that it is able to support all military aircraft, including the
C-17 Globemaster III The McDonnell Douglas/Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a large military transport aircraft that was developed for the United States Air Force (USAF) from the 1980s to the early 1990s by McDonnell Douglas. The C-17 carries forward the name of two ...
. Airmen from the 809th Expeditionary Red Horse Squadron constructed facilities to bed down the MQ-1B Predator unmanned aircraft system for the 451st Air Expeditionary Wing. The RED HORSE personnel built two separate sets of parking aprons, aircraft shelters, and maintenance facilities at this location and installed all of the needed utilities. The unit also created helicopter parking in 2010. In mid 2011 an expansion of the base was completed which tripled its size. Construction was scheduled to begin on a new 1.3-mile NATO training runway in early 2012. But this has been canceled or suspended. The USACE have recently added an additional 56,000 square meters of apron and taxiways capable of handling large strategic lift aircraft such as C-17s Also added were a 1,200 sq meter cargo terminal, a 790 sq meter passenger terminal and a fire suppression system with nearly 600,000 liters of water have also been added to the air base. Supplying U.S. Army soldiers in Regional Command West, in March 2011 529th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion was replaced by the 298th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion. In January 2012 the 298th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion was replaced by the 365th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion (Mississippi Army Reserve). Base security prior to summer 2011 is ill recorded but believed to consist primarily of base taxing. An Air Force Security Forces ESFS was not officially stood up, but nevertheless manned by a HQ unit of the 820th BDG and airmen sourced from several bases around summer 2011. In December 2011, members of Bravo Battery, 1/134 Field Artillery, were sourced to take the Base Defense mission mixed with a reduced contingent of
Air Force Security Forces Air force ground forces and special forces are ground forces, and may include special operations units that are part of a nation's air force. Airmen assigned to such units may be trained, armed and equipped for ground combat and special operati ...
to create Task Force Griffin. Consisting of 240 Army and Air Force personnel and 350 Afghan security contractors conducting base defense operations in western Afghanistan. A small team of 15 soldiers from Bravo Battery conducted the first ever American/Italian joint operation in the RC West. The same 15 man team was the first established tactical security detail for OSI's Expeditionary Detachment 2416, Taskforce Grey (Ghost). The lead OSI Special Agent for this team would go on to be awarded the Bronze Star. During the late 2000s thru the end 2014 the Mongolian national army played a role in base security through the use of U.S. MRAPs, fortified guard posts and foot patrols. The Mongolian army worked closely alongside ISAF and NATO forces during their occupation of the base. In the fall of 2011, Bravo Battery from the 1st Battalion, 134th Field Artillery Regiment, 37th IBCT, deployed to Shindand as Task Force Griffin (Task Force Roc). They provided base security, carried out patrol and assessment missions, checkpoint control and flight line security for the base. A squad consisting of 14 personnel from the Task Force, known as Rogue Squad, provided the tactical security element for the USAF Office of Special Investigations Expeditionary Detachment 2416, Task Force Grey, during outside-the-wire counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence operations. On 27 February 2012, advisers renamed the 'base-in-a-box' portion of the base to Camp Estelle, in dedication to Air Force Major Raymond Estelle II, who lost his life April 27, 2011, during a shooting incident at the Afghan Command and Control Center in the Afghanistan air force headquarters at the
Kabul International Airport , nativename-r = , image = Flightline at Kabul International Airport.jpeg , caption = The flightline at Kabul International Airport in January 2012 , IATA = KBL , ICAO = OAKB , ...
. In the summer of 2012, the 3rd Battalion, C & D Company 144th Infantry regiment from the 56th BCT, 36 Infantry Division deployed to Afghanistan (RC West) as Task Force Bowie. TF Bowie provided Battalion Command Base Security, including but not limited to presences/combat patrols, assessment missions, checkpoint control and flight line security for Shindand Airbase and surrounding areas. In 2013, the 1st Battalion, 214th Field Artillery Regiment, deployed to Shindand as Task Force Granite. Task Force Granite was responsible for base security. They provided Base Security Battalion Command, and carried out patrol and assessment missions, checkpoint control and flight line security for the base. 1/214's B Battery also provided the tactical security element for the USAF Office of Special Investigation's Expeditionary Detachment 2416, Task Force Grey during outside-the-wire counterthreat operations. Between 2012 and 2014 Shindand air base was used for U.S. led undergraduate pilot training of the Afghan Air Force. The U.S. military Crash, Fire, and Rescue which had officially started up in 2009, closed in November 2014, switching to contractors. Shindand was home to the 3rd Wing of the
Afghan Air Force The Air Force of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, also referred to as the Islamic Emirate Air Force and the Afghan Air Force, is the air force branch of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The Royal Afghan Air Force was e ...
until August 2021.Resolute Support Mission
Shindand Undergraduate Pilot Training Class
2013, accessed 2015.


See also

*
List of airports in Afghanistan This is a list of airports in Afghanistan, grouped by type and sorted by location. Description Afghanistan has four international airports which are expected to increase in the future. The Kabul International Airport serves the population of Kabu ...


References


External links

* , August 25, 2015,
TOLOnews TOLOnews (Pashto/Persian: ) is Afghanistan's first 24/7 news television channel, owned by MOBY Group, launched in August, 2010. Its sister channels are TOLO TV and Lemar TV in Afghanistan. The channel is available on terrestrial across Afghanist ...
. * , October 3, 2013,
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
. {{authority control Airports in Afghanistan Soviet Air Force bases Installations of the United States Air Force in Afghanistan Military installations of Afghanistan Afghanistan–Soviet Union relations Soviet foreign aid Military installations of the Soviet Union in other countries