'NATO Base In Afghanistan Gets Major Expansion', National Public Radio, 11 July 2008

EXCERPT: " Iraq's government is taking a hard line with Washington over how long and under what conditions U.S. troops can remain in the country, but in Afghanistan, officials seem to have accepted the indefinite presence of more than 70,000 foreign troops on their soil. It has been more than six years since the remnants the Taliban regime fought a "last stand" against U.S. and Afghan forces at the airport in Kandahar. Since then, Kandahar Air Field has grown into a vital NATO air base. The base in southern Afghanistan is now a walled, multicultural military city that houses some 13,000 troops from 17 different countries ? the kind of place where you can eat at a Dutch chain restaurant alongside soldiers from the Royal Netherlands Army."

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