In the early morning of December 11, 2019, the

Taliban , leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders , leader1_name = {{indented plainlist, * Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013) * Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016) * Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) ...

attacked Bagram Air Base in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

, which at the time was controlled by the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

military. The attackers used a VBIED garbage truck with 25,000 lb of home-made explosives which killed two

civilian A civilian is a person who is not a member of an armed force. It is war crime, illegal under the law of armed conflict to target civilians with military attacks, along with numerous other considerations for civilians during times of war. If a civi ...

s and injured 80 others.

The attack

insurgents attacked the western part of the base following the explosion. The attack was repelled by a US-led

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

forces. At 5:50 a.m. a 22,500 lb VBIED (Vehicle Borne IED) was detonated at Bagram Airfield abandoned medical facility that was walled off separate from the rest of the base. Six people were wounded from the blast.

American military response

Just minutes after the attacks, Marine advisors, U.S. Army Military Police and their Georgian military counterparts responded to the attacks. The Marines and Georgians were in charge of perimeter security for Bagram Airfield Security Forces (BAFSECFOR). The U.S. Army Military Police were in charge of Law Enforcement Operations. At the time of the attack BAFSECFOR was headquartered by the 307th Airborne Engineer Battalion, and organized as Task Force Cobalt. Task Force Cobalt pushed more combat power to the site of the initial attack, mainly elements of 1st Platoon, 348th Engineer Company (Route Clearance), focusing on containing Taliban fighters from entering the main portion of the base. Heavy small arms fire and rockets could be heard In the area of the initial car bomb but Taliban fighters were unsuccessful from entering the main portion of the base. BAGRAM Dec 11 2019 DVIDS

16 hours after the initial attack 2 US F-16 fighter aircraft from the 79th EAMU out of Shaw AFB SC bombed the area outside of the military base colloquially known as the Korean hospital, due to its former usage by the South Korean military. Following the attack HHC, 307th AEB coordinated the closing of the breach in the perimeter created by the initial blast and subsequent bombings by US Forces. The 244th Engineer Company, a National Guard unit hailing from Hagerstown, Maryland, took mission command to repair the breach in Bagram's perimeter wall utilizing organic equipment.

References

2019 in international relations 2019 murders in Afghanistan 21st century in Parwan Province Attacks on military installations in 2019 Attacks on United States entities Crime in Parwan Province Suicide bombings in 2019 Suicide car and truck bombings in Afghanistan Car and truck bombings in 2019 Taliban bombings Terrorist incidents in Afghanistan in 2019 Attacks on airbases in Afghanistan Terrorist attacks on airports in Afghanistan 2019 building bombings Airport bombings in Afghanistan December 2019 in Afghanistan December 2019 crimes in Asia {{Terrorism-stub