US pitches investors on Afghan airfields as drawdown looms

Daoud Sultanzoy, an adviser to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, speaks to The Associated Press on the sidelines of an investment meeting on Afghanistan's military airfields on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2015, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Sultanzoy and U.S. officials are pitching private investors on the idea of doing business in the country’s many military airfields ahead of a planned foreign troop withdrawal, even as the Taliban insurgency rages on. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili) Daoud Sultanzoy, an adviser to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, speaks to The Associated Press on the sidelines of an investment meeting on Afghanistan's military airfields on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2015, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Sultanzoy and U.S. officials are pitching private investors on the idea of doing business in the country’s many military airfields ahead of a planned foreign troop withdrawal, even as the Taliban insurgency rages on. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

By Associated Press September 30, 2015 2 min read

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – U.S. and Afghan officials pitched investors Wednesday on doing business on military airfields that NATO troops will withdraw from in Afghanistan, even as the Taliban insurgency rages on in the country.

The American Chamber of Commerce in Afghanistan hosted the meeting in Dubai as Afghan forces aided by U.S. airstrikes targeted Taliban fighters in the city of Kunduz.

The Taliban seized the city Monday, the first they’ve taken since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.

The U.S. and other foreign troops plan to withdraw entirely from these bases, meaning Afghan forces would be tied down defending them unless private industry moves in and provides guards, U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Todd Semonite said.

“There will be insurgents over time that can continue to mass … but the Afghan defense forces are able to come back in and be able to retake those areas,” Semonite told The Associated Press. “Kunduz is going to end up being resolved here shortly.”