Originally constructed for 12,000 people, the Kandahar base now has between 30,000 and 40,000 occupants
The United States has deployed the majority of the 21,000 extra soldiers to Kandahar and the neighbouring Helmand
Kandahar is Afghanistan's second city and the Taliban movement's spiritual home.Close to opium production also.
The US Army faces a major challenge to win back the Taliban's historic stronghold of Kandahar -- a key battleground in the increasingly bloody fight to control Afghanistan.
"Kandahar city is nationally critical," said Steve Biddle, from the Centre of Foreign Relations think tank in Washington. "It's one of the small number of places where a true setback could be a war loser."
A combat brigade of about 4,000 US soldiers has been sent to the volatile 54,000-square-kilometre (21,000-square-mile) southern province.
Until their arrival, just 2,800 Canadian troops had spent the last three years trying to ensure security for the province's 900,000 people.
"Taliban have always viewed Kandahar city as the jewel of the south and as their ultimate goal," said US intelligence officer Captain Mark Richardson. "They believe that what Kandahar does, all the Afghans will do."
"If we retake Kandahar, if the people are satisfied and development works, that will spread everywhere in Afghanistan. Afghans say that change comes from Kandahar," said a Western official familiar with the situation.
Three months after their arrival, US troops tasked with securing the main supply routes leading to Kabul, maintain they have had some successes.
"We have made incredible progress," said Richardson, pointing to the Taliban withdrawal from its stronghold in Arghandab district, north of Kandahar.
But it has come at a price. About 20 US soldiers have already been killed, most of them in attacks by the insurgents' weapon of choice, improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
In a sign of its importance to the NATO coalition, the heavily-guarded military base to the south of the city has grown into the second-biggest behind Bagram, near the capital Kabul.
Originally constructed for 12,000 people, the base now has between 30,000 and 40,000 occupants from all countries participating in NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) operations -- and is getting bigger.
Armoured vehicles stretch as far as the eye can see, as Black Hawk helicopters, F-16 fighter jets and cargo planes take off and land in conveyor-belt succession.
The United States has deployed the majority of the 21,000 extra soldiers sent by President Barack Obama to Kandahar and the neighbouring province of Helmand, which produces most of the world's opium.
"Taliban have been very active in the south and I think we ignored them for the most part and concentrated our effort in the east, where Al-Qaeda was more active," a Pentagon military official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"We really lost control of areas in the south."
As the Afghan conflict enters its ninth year, the Taliban in Afghanistan now control most of the 17 districts in the province and have spread into Kandahar, Afghanistan's second city and the movement's spiritual home.
And the battle is far from won, faced with a tenacious enemy and difficult terrain.
"Kandahar is a microcosm of the strategic problems of the country," said Biddle.
"There has to be a serious security force presence in the city. And the perception that it's better if it'd be Afghan is exactly right. However the Afghan government in Kabul has not been particularly supportive."
The Western official added: "The Taliban and others are taking advantage of the debate about troops and saying, 'the foreigners won't stay beyond two years'. That has had a negative impact on the population."
In addition, people here are victims of intimidation and racketeering by the Taliban, who often act with impunity. Several local leaders, fearing for their lives, do not even live in their own districts.
International forces accept that they have come up against the problem of corruption of local authorities, which is hampering efforts to win the support of the population.
The underpaid Afghan police are widely seen as corrupt. Many Afghans also accuse the head of the provincial council, Ahmed Wali Karzai whose brother is the Afghan president, of involvement in criminal activities including drug trafficking.
Rampant corruption is laying the foundations for insurrection, a number of international observers said on condition of anonymity.
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