Donald Trump Wants US Military Base Back in Afghanistan

President Donald Trump said Thursday that the United States is trying to “get back” the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, more than four years after the U.S. military’s withdrawal at the conclusion of the nearly two-decade-long U.S. war in the nation.

Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell responded to Trump’s comments in a statement to Newsweek.

“The Department of War is a planning organization and routinely reviews how the Department would respond to a variety of contingencies across the globe. We are always ready to execute any mission at the President’s direction,” he said.

Why It Matters

The Taliban took control of the air base during its return to power in 2021, which has seen worsening poverty, mistreatment of Afghan citizens by the government and more restrictions against women. Bagram is a former U.S. military stronghold in Afghanistan, north of the capital city of Kabul. The base was critical to U.S. power in the region for years prior to 2021.

Trump negotiated the Afghanistan withdrawal during his first term in office, but the bungled exit took place under President Joe Biden’s administration. Democrats and Republicans have not agreed on who is responsible—Republicans say Biden mismanaged the exit, but Democrats put the blame on Trump’s deal.

What to Know

Trump said during a press conference in the United Kingdom that his plan was to leave Afghanistan with “strength and dignity” and keep the air base, which he described as “one of the biggest airbases in the world.”

“We gave it to them for nothing,” he said.”We are trying to get it back, by the way. OK, that could be a little breaking news.”

He continued, “We’re trying to get it back, because they need things from us. 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.”

The last U.S. troops left Bagram in July 2021 following the widely-criticized withdrawal from Afghanistan. The Taliban quickly returned to power following the withdrawal. By August, Afghan forces at Bagram had surrendered to the Taliban.

Trump frequently criticized the Biden administration’s handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, arguing that it would not have been bungled if he were in office at the time. The withdrawal ended with 13 U.S. troops being killed in a bombing and the collapse of the Afghan government.

A 2022 State Department report titled After Action Review on Afghanistan found that the decision to hand over the base to the Afghan government “meant that Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA) would be the only avenue for a possible noncombatant evacuation operation (NEO).”

The U.S. and the Taliban do not have diplomatic ties but have engaged in hostage discussions, according to the Associated Press. In March, an American man who was abducted while traveling through the country was released. The Taliban said last week that a deal had been reached on a prisoner swap.

What People Are Saying

Daniel DePetris, fellow at Defense Priorities, wrote on X: “Trump wants to end forever wars and pull the United States back from endless overseas commitments, which is why he’s flirting with bringing U.S. troops back to Bagram Airfield.”

Rebeccah Heinrichs, senior fellow at director of the Keystone Defense Initiative at the Hudson Institute, wrote on X: “Of course President Trump is right about Bagram! It was absurd to turn that over to the Taliban- especially within the context of a Cold War with the PRC.”

What Happens Next

More details about the negotiations to retake the air base remained unconfirmed Thursday afternoon.