I do find it amusing Ken that folks so often forget that an airfield can be "lost" due to politics, and often limitations with the number and type of aircraft that can be on deck in certain nations. We have to play this game constantly even now, even in countries with fairly open basing rights.
Beside the Philippines, there used to be basing rights, or even essentially US bases, in places like Libya, France, Morroco, Viet Nam, Thailand etc. operating under the graces of the host nation. Others may recall the challenges of operating in places Turkey, certain Stans, Allied Force limitations, Equador, recent Iraq, etc. And it's not just a US thing- our UK friends may recall a few places that used to be under the crown that the UK military routinely operated from, but have been "lost".
I can think of few countries that would allow such a diverse and heavy contingent as we see in Kandahar- and as I recall Afghanistan didn't get much say in the initial vote.