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It'd have to be very America-friendly for that motivation to make sense, to make up for being situated such that keeping it supplied relies on the cooperation of one or more potential adversaries.

"Install a tin pot who owes us" is a more likely route to a military base.

Supplies are an issue, hence why you don't see the military doing much complaining about letting Bagram go.

You mean "democracy"? Let's be honest, US (and to a lesser extent EU) can tolerate just about any atrocity performed by a "friendly" regime if there is enough to gain from it. There are countless examples past and present across the globe.

The last time the US installed bases in a nation bordering Russia, Russia parked a nuclear missile battery 90 miles off the Florida coast.

China is exerting soft power now by buying up properties and ports in the Caribbean and Latam. Make no mistake, if a real US base had been activated in Afghanistan China, or Russia, would have planted one in Venezuela.