Camp Shorabak (formerly Camp Bastion) is a former British Army airbase, located northwest of the city of Lashkargah in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. The camp was situated in a remote desert area, far from population centres.
The camp was built by the British Army in 2005-06, and on 27 October 2014 the British Army handed over control to the Afghan Ministry of Defense. Between 2005 and October 2014 it was the logistics hub for International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) operations in Helmand during the War in Afghanistan and Operation Herrick, and it was capable of accommodating over 32,000 people. It was the largest British overseas military camp built since the Second World War. The base was also home to troops from other states, including the United States and Denmark.
Shorabak contained the Afghan National Army (ANA) camp (also called Camp Shorabak), and also held Camp Leatherneck until 2014.
The Taliban took control of Afghanistan in July–August 2021; the camp is now under control by the Taliban.
History
Camp Shorabak was known as Camp Bastion until 2014. It was a tactical landing zone set up by two air traffic controllers from the Royal Air Force's Tactical Air Traffic Control Unit. This provided a vital and strategic insertion point in Helmand Province during the western intervention in the War in Afghanistan.
The camp started out with just a few tents in 2005. However, from early 2006 personnel from 39 Engineer Regiment Royal Engineers and various contracting firms, all under the supervision of 62 Works Group Royal Engineers started to build the base with more robust facilities. In November 2006, the then British Prime Minister Tony Blair visited Camp Bastion, and, while addressing a gathering of British troops, described it as an "extraordinary piece of desert ... where the fate of world security in the early 21st century is going to be decided".
Four miles long by two miles wide, the camp had a busy airfield and a field hospital and originally had full accommodation for 2,000 people.
The base was originally named by the Commanding Officer of 62 Works Group (RE) based upon name of the gabions used to form the compounds walls; Hesco Bastion. The first camp to be built was Camp 251 which housed the construction force and they were housed in tents. The first runway capable of handling C-17s direct from the United Kingdom opened in Camp Bastion on 3 December 2007.
The base had previously been divided into a number of different sections (bastions). Bastions 1 and 2 were the first, with Bastion 2 containing Camp Barber (US) and Camp Viking (DK). Bastion 0 was added in around 2010 and housed the contractors and Bastion 3 was used for in-theatre training.
Camp Bastion included Bastion Airfield, Bastion Garrison and Camp Leatherneck along with Rowe Lines.
By September 2014 it was reported that both Bastion 2 and 3 had reverted to desert.
Camp Bastion airfield and heliport handled up to 600 fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft movements every day in 2011, operating combat, medical and logistics flights. Its air traffic controllers were integral to the support of the UK's operations in southern Afghanistan and the Air Traffic Control Squadron at Camp Bastion was the first to recruit and train US Marines to UK air traffic control standards.
In February 2014, snow fell in Camp Bastion for the first time since the base was established, eight years earlier.
The camp was handed over to the control of the Afghan security forces on 26 October 2014.
On 27 November 2014, insurgents infiltrated Camp Bastion. As of Sunday 30 November, the Afghan National Army had not fully driven out the "Taliban" fighters. At least five ANA soldiers were killed in the attack.
Upon completion of British and US military withdrawal from Camp Bastion, it was renamed Camp Shorabak as this was the name of the Afghan base situated there.
In December 2015, it was announced that a small contingency of British troops would return to Camp Shorabak in an advisory role, due to the Taliban overrun of Sangin district in Helmand province.
The base was initially home to the Afghan National Army and during Operation Herrick 7 2nd Battalion, the Yorkshire Regiment's Battlegroup HQ.
Before the 2021 Taliban takeover, home to 4th Kandak, 3rd Brigade, 205th Corps.
The ring road, watchtowers and large parts of Bastion I still remain to be maintained.
United Kingdom
Aviation
The main user of the camp was the United Kingdom which based a number of rotary and a few fixed-wing aircraft.