President Donald Trump revealed during a joint press conference on Thursday with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer that the U.S. is working on regaining control of Bagram Air Base in the Parwan Province of Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
“We’re trying to get it back,” said Trump. “We’re trying to get it back because [the Taliban] need[s] things from us.”
The Soviets built the airfield 27 miles north of Kabul and 400 miles west of China in the 1950s and controlled it until their withdrawal from the country in the late 1980s. After overthrowing the previous Taliban regime in 2001, the United States took control of the base and made massive improvements.
‘It’s exactly one hour away from where China makes its nuclear missiles.’
During the Biden administration’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan two decades later — during which the ISIS-Khorasan suicide bombing outside Hamid Karzai International Airport claimed the lives of 11 Marines, a soldier, and a sailor and wounded 45 other service members — the 30 square mile airfield was given to the Afghan National Army, which promptly surrendered the base to Taliban forces.
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Bagram Airfield after its abandonment by the Biden administration. Photo by Rahmatullah ALizadah/Xinhua via Getty Images
In his first Cabinet meeting after retaking office, Trump hinted that he might condition continued American aid to Afghanistan on the U.S. retaking control of the airfield.
Trump also criticized Biden’s botched withdrawal, noting that “we were going to keep Bagram — not because of Afghanistan but because of China.”
“It’s exactly one hour away from where China makes its nuclear missiles,” said Trump. “We were going to keep a small force on Bagram. We were going to have Bagram Air Base, one of the biggest air bases in the world, one of the biggest runways.”
When pressed for comment, the State Department referred Blaze News to the White House, which did not immediately respond.
The Federation of American Scientists revealed in 2021 that satellite imagery indicated that China was constructing a nuclear missile silo field in eastern Xinjiang, the Chinese province that shares a border with Afghanistan.
The distance between Bagram and the airfield is over 1,414 miles as the crow flies. The communist nuclear missile silos in Yumen, Gansu Province, are approximately 930 to 1,000 miles away from Bagram by air.
The Washington, D.C.-based Orion Policy Institute noted in a March policy brief that:
since relinquishing control of Bagram Air Base in July 2021, the U.S. lacks a military presence in or near Central Asia. If the U.S. regained control of Bagram Airbase, it could reassert U.S. influence in the region, counter China’s growing influence, combat China’s growing nuclear capabilities, and better protect the U.S. from the growing terrorist threats.
Trump reiterated on Thursday, “We want that base back, but 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.”
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