Camp Shorabak

Camp Shorabak
Near Gereshk, Helmand Province in Afghanistan
U.S. Marine Corps Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter at the camp in 2013
OAZI Shown within Afghanistan
Coordinates	31°51′24″N 64°13′15″E / 31.85667°N 64.22083°E / 31.85667; 64.22083Coordinates: 31°51′24″N 64°13′15″E / 31.85667°N 64.22083°E / 31.85667; 64.22083
Site information
Owner	Afghanistan
Operator	Ministry of Defense
Website	Afghanistan - Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation - Bastion
Site history
Built	2005 (2005)
In use	2005-present
Garrison information
Past commanders	RAF Group Captain Tony Innes, Commander Bastion and Commanding Officer 903 Expeditionary Air Wing.
Airfield information
Identifiers	IATA: OAZ, ICAO: OAZI
Elevation	855 metres (2,805 ft) AMSL
Runways Direction Length and surface 01/19 3,500 metres (11,483 ft) Concrete/Asphalt
Helipads Number Length and surface 01/19 200 metres (656 ft) Concrete
Garrison of 5,000–12,000 troops. Could hold over 28,000/ 32,000 troops.

Camp Shorabak (formerly Camp Bastion) is an Afghan Ministry of Defense airbase located northwest of the city of Lashkar Gah in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. The base has barracks for the Afghan National Army.

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.

The camp was built by the British Army and was the largest British overseas military camp built since the Second World War. The base was also home to troops from a number of nations, including the United States of America and Denmark.

Shorabak contains the Afghan National Army (ANA) camp (also called Camp Shorabak), and also held Camp Leatherneck until 2014.

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".

Camp Shorabak began life as Camp Bastion, 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 and unbeknownst to the two controllers, was to be the foundations for Camp Shorabak.