Washington, Sept 20: US President Donald Trump revealed that his administration is trying to retake Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. He said it is important because of its proximity to China’s nuclear facilities.“We’re trying to get it back, by the way. We’re trying to get it back because they need things from us. We want that base back. One of the reasons we want the base is, as you know, it’s an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons,” Trump said during a press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday at Chequers in the United Kingdom.
Trump made the plan public four years after the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan. He criticised the previous Biden administration for the Afghanistan “disaster” and linked it to the conflict in Ukraine. “He [Putin] would have never done what he did, except that he didn’t respect the leadership of the United States,” Trump added.
Bagram is located 44 kilometres north of Kabul. It was the largest US military base in Afghanistan and the centre of the 20-year US occupation.
Trump has raised the issue of Bagram before. In March, he claimed Beijing controlled it. “We were going to get out, but we were going to keep Bagram, not because of Afghanistan but because of China, because it’s exactly one hour away from where China makes its nuclear missiles. And you know who’s occupying it right now? China,” he said.
The Taliban rejected these allegations. “Bagram is controlled by the Islamic Emirate (Taliban regime), not China. Chinese troops are not present here, nor do we have any such pact with any country,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told the official broadcaster.
Meanwhile, China and the Taliban on Friday rejected Trump’s proposal to reclaim Bagram. Beijing warned against stirring regional conflict, while Kabul reiterated that Afghans never accepted foreign military presence.
The sprawling Bagram base was abandoned by US troops in 2021 during their chaotic withdrawal ordered by then-president Joe Biden, as Taliban militants took control of Kabul. Trump said during his state visit to the UK that the base is strategically important due to its proximity to China’s nuclear weapons facilities.