WASHINGTON, May 17 (Xinhua) -- The United States is planning to build a new detention camp at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan for locking up more alleged extremists and terrorists, a Pentagon official said Saturday.

    "I can confirm there are indeed plans to build a new detention facility at Bagram airfield," local mass media quoted Lieutenant Colonel Mark Wright, a spokesman for the Defense Department, as reporting.

    The Bagram airfield has served as a main U.S. military base near Kabul, Afghanistan since the U.S.-led Afghanistan War against the Taliban regime and al-Qaeda militants in October 2001.

    The future detention camp, designed to include educational, religious and recreational facilities, is expected to occupy 40 acres of land, according to the spokesman.

    Observers say the Pentagon's plan indicates that the United States intends to keep its overseas detention facilities permanent.