| FOB Chapman | |
| Ensign: | Flag of the International Security Assistance Force.svg |
| Ensign Size: | 90px |
| Location: | Khost province |
| Country: | Afghanistan |
| Pushpin Map: | Afghanistan |
| Pushpin Label: | FOB Ghazni |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Shown within Afghanistan |
| Type: | Forward operating base |
| Used: | 2001- |
| Ownership: | International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) |
| Operator: | United States Armed Forces Central Intelligence Agency |
Forward Operating Base Chapman, also known as Camp Chapman, was a United States Armed Forces Forward Operating Base located at the site of a former Afghan Army installation and was situated in Khost province, Afghanistan, on an airstrip 2 miles east of Khost.
The site was also used by the Central Intelligence Agency and was near Forward Operating Base Salerno, a large military base formerly used by U.S. special operations forces.[1] [2] The base was named for Sergeant First Class Nathan Chapman, the first U.S. soldier killed by enemy fire during the Afghanistan war, in 2002.[2] [3] [4] [5] Chapman was killed while fighting alongside the CIA.[4]
The CIA's base in Khost was set up at the beginning of the U.S.-led offensive against al-Qaeda and the Taliban in 2001, and began as an improvised center for operations.[6] A military base at the beginning, it was later transformed into a CIA base, a U.S. official said.[7] According to a U.S. military source, Forward Operating Base Chapman was also used as a base for the Khost Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), a military-led development group.[8] According to an individual who was in the PRT and took part in the relocation; this team left in 2011 and moved to FOB Salerno.[9] [10] In recent years, the base, one of the most secretive and highly guarded locations in Afghanistan, evolved into a major counterterrorism hub of the CIA's paramilitary Special Activities Division, used for joint operation with CIA, military special operations forces and Afghan allies, and had a housing compound for U.S. intelligence officers.[2] [6] [11] [12]
On Wednesday, December 30, 2009, the Camp Chapman attack was executed by suicide bomber Humam Khalil al-Balawi who was a Jordanian double agent loyal to al-Qaeda-linked Islamist extremists. Seven people employed by or affiliated with the CIA, including the chief of the base, Jennifer Lynn Matthews[13] as well as a Jordanian intelligence officer, died in the attack. It remains the second-deadliest incident ever for the CIA after the 1983 United States embassy bombing. Almost three years later, on December 26, 2012, a suicide bomber, possibly with ties to the Afghan Taliban (who claimed responsibility via a spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, claiming those who served American forces at the base were the target) and/or the Haqqani network, killed three Afghans (their status was not specified) who were outside the perimeter of the base, which is near a military airport.[14]
U.S. bases in Khost, in particular Camp Salerno, have frequently been targeted by insurgents. In most cases, however, suicide attackers do not succeed in getting past the main entrance of a base.[15] According to U.S. officials, Forward Operating Base Chapman appears to have implemented less stringent security measures than other U.S. military bases, aiming at establishing trust with informants.[16] Subjecting informants to mistrust and excessive suspicion would reduce the amount of information received from them.[17]
In 2021, in the lead-up to the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, the Taliban twice targeted the base. In the first attack rockets landed nearby wounding seven civilians. During the second attack a water tower on the base was hit, but no U.S. personnel were hit.[18]