Forward Operating Base Chapman

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File:Camp Chapman 82nd Army Soldier 2002.png
A U.S. Army soldier from the 82nd Airborne Division looks down his M4 carbine's sights outside Camp Chapman in 2002.

Forward Operating Base Chapman, also known as Camp Chapman, is a United States military base located at the site of a former Afghan Army installation that is also being used by the Central Intelligence Agency.

Forward Operating Base Chapman is situated in Khost province, Afghanistan, on an airstrip 2 miles east of Khost. It is near Camp Salerno, a large military base used by U.S. special operations forces.[1][2] The base is named for Sergeant First Class Nathan Chapman, the first U.S. soldier killed by enemy fire during the Afghanistan war, in 2002.[2][3][4][5] Chapman was killed while fighting alongside the CIA.[4]

History

The CIA's base in Khost was set up at the beginning of the U.S.-led offensive against al-Qaeda and the Taliban in 2001, and began as an improvised center for operations.[6] A military base at the beginning, it was later transformed into a CIA base, a U.S. official said.[7] According to a U.S. military source, Forward Operating Base Chapman was also used as a base for the Khost Provincial Reconstruction Team, a military-led development group.[8] According to an individual who was in the PRT and took part in the relocation; this team left in 2011 and moved to FOB Salerno.[9][10] In recent years, the base, one of the most secretive and highly guarded locations in Afghanistan, evolved into a major counterterrorism hub of the CIA's paramilitary Special Activities Division, used for joint operation with CIA, military special operations forces and Afghan allies, and had a housing compound for U.S. intelligence officers.[2][6][11][12]

File:19th sf CO at Chapman July 02.JPG
U.S. Army Soldiers and contractors pose for a photograph at FOB Chapman in July 2002.

On Wednesday, December 30, 2009, the Camp Chapman attack was executed by suicide bomber Humam Khalil al-Balawi who was a Jordanian double agent loyal to al-Qaeda-linked Islamist extremists. Seven people employed by or affiliated with the CIA, including the chief of the base, Jennifer Lynn Matthews[13] as well as a Jordanian intelligence officer, died in the attack. It remains the second-deadliest incident ever for the CIA after the 1983 United States embassy bombing. Almost three years later, on Wednesday, December 26, 2012, a suicide bomber, possibly with ties to the Afghan Taliban (who claimed responsibility via a spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, claiming those who served American forces at the base were the target) and/or the Haqqani network, killed three Afghans (their status was not specified) who were outside the perimeter of the base, which is near a military airport.[14]

U.S. bases in Khost, in particular Camp Salerno, have frequently been targeted by insurgents. In most cases, however, suicide attackers do not succeed in getting past the main entrance of a base.[15] According to U.S. officials, Forward Operating Base Chapman appears to have implemented less stringent security measures that other U.S. military bases, aiming at establishing trust with informants.[16] Subjecting informants to mistrust and excessive suspicion would reduce the amount of information received from them.[17]

References

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  13. Who was who in the hunt for bin Laden, The Week, April 30, 2013
  14. http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/26/16156522-blast-in-afghan-city-of-khost-taliban-says-us-base-targeted?lite=
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