FOB Salerno (also known as Firebase Salerno) is a forward operating base of the U.S. military in south eastern province of Khowst, near the city of Khost in Afghanistan. It has been nicknamed "Rocket City" due to the large amounts of incoming rocket and mortar fire in previous years. The facility was built by TF Panther in 2002, centered around the 3rd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment from Fort Bragg, North Carolina. It was named for the beachhead in Salerno that the 505th PIR parachuted onto on 14 September 1943 (Operation Avalanche).
Several rockets were fired at Firebase Salerno on 1 December 2002.[1] Jan Baz Khan, the local militia commander who American forces paid to provide local security around the base quickly turned over a number of suspects he assured the Americans were responsible for the attack.
Dilawar a taxi driver who Jan Baz Khan turned over to the Americans succumbed to injuries on 10 December 2002.[1] (see Bagram torture and prisoner abuse). Golden reported that, by February 2003, American intelligence analysts had concluded that Jan Baz Khan had been responsible for the attack, that he had sold innocent men to them for the bounty. Close to a dozen other men were held in Guantanamo due to Jan Baz Khan's allegation, or to an alleged association with him.