Washington eyes Bagram comeback as Trump cites proximity to China’s nuclear sites
The US is taking steps to reclaim the Bagram airbase from the Taliban after losing it during the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, Donald Trump announced.
"We’re trying to get it back, by the way," Mr. Trump told reporters during a joint press conference with Sir Keir Starmer in Aylesbury on Thursday.
The Bagram base was the largest operated by the US in Afghanistan and is strategically important in countering China’s growing influence in the region.
Mr. Trump suggested that he was negotiating with the Taliban to retake ownership, adding: "We’re trying to get it back because they need things from us. We want that base back."
The president has criticized Joe Biden over the tumultuous withdrawal from the region in 2021, complaining that American weapons and other assets were left in the hands of the Taliban.
Since then, Mr. Trump has repeatedly claimed that Bagram is under Chinese control.
"One of the reasons we want the base is, as you know, it’s an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons. So a lot of things are happening, but I am very disappointed in the fact that that one’s not settled," he added.
For nearly 20 years, the airfield was the heart of American military power in Afghanistan, a sprawling mini-city behind fences and blast walls just an hour’s drive north of Kabul.
Initially, it was a symbol of the US drive to avenge the 9/11 attacks, then of its struggle for a way through the ensuing war with the Taliban.
The Soviet Union built the airfield in the 1950s. When it invaded Afghanistan in 1979 to back a communist government, it turned it into its main base from which it would defend its occupation of the country.
The US and NATO inherited Bagram in 2001 after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Deputy Editor
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