March/April 2003 Issue

Afghanistan: Military

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Major US Military Bases1 Post-Gulf War: Bagram AB, Kandahar AB
Minor US Military Bases1 Post-Gulf War: Khost, Lwara, Mazar-e Sharif, Pul-i-Kandahar
US Military Personnel Stationed 10/14/20001 None
US Military Personnel Stationed as of 2/27/031 9,000 troops. [Commander Gage at Centcom’s PAO]
Military Expenditures, 20002 NA
Military Expenditures as percent of GDP2 NA
US Military Arms Sales (Delivered) 1990-20013 $0

1 Source: www.GlobalSecurity.org
2 Source: CIA World Fact Book, www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/
3 Source: Federation of American Scientists, U.S. Arms Transfers Database, www.fas.org/asmp/profiles/sales_db.htm

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

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Because the in-depth journalism on underreported beats and unique perspectives on the daily news you turn to Mother Jones for is only possible because readers fund us. Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism we exist to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

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Getting just 10 percent of the people who care enough about our work to be reading this blurb to part with a few bucks would be utterly transformative for us, and that's very much what we need to keep charging hard in this financially uncertain, high-stakes year.

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