Reportedly, NATO has closed more than 200 bases in the country, mostly across high ways, and transferred around 300 others to local forces. Lt. Col. David Oslon, a NATO forces spokesman has said that the facilities were small, ranging from isolated checkpoints to bases of dozen, to 300 soldiers. He also added that 282 bases of the same size have been handed over to the Afghan government, which reportedly brings down the number of bases run by international forces to half as that of 2011 when they used to operate in 800 bases.

General Steven Shapiro who is responsible for return or handover of U.S. equipment has said: "As our Afghan security force partners take more responsibility for their own security, more bases will be closing and transitioning,”. \He also bluntly rejected the propaganda that US security forces, while closing their bases, burn them with all their equipment, adding that so far the U.S. government has given about 20,000 pieces of equipment worth of about $3 million to the Afghan government, ranging from chairs to large generators.

The closures are part of the large-scale military drawdown plan over this year and next as international forces prepare to transfer security tasks to the Afghan government entirely at the end of 2014. Most of the troops that are leaving the country are American, and therefore most of the closures are U.S. bases.

The US government set schedule to bring down the level of its forces from its peak of 100,000 to 68,000 by October this year.

One of the key issues in this process---handover of security responsibilities---is the destiny of US military equipment transported to the country during past eleven years of anti-insurgency struggle. Previously, the lower house of the parliament asked allied countries not to return their military equipment along with withdrawal of their security forces. \They all in consensus said that Afghan security forces need those tools and equipment to combat insurgent groups after the completion of foreign military withdrawal in 2014.

General Shapiro has shown a green signal. He has said that military equipment, which the US does not need will be left to Afghan security forces. No doubt, the international military tools worth billions of dollars, and part of them certainly will be left because it would not be cost effective for foreign allies to take them back to their countries.