Trump Announces Effort to ‘Get Back’ Bagram Airbase, Citing Proximity to China's Nuclear Program
President Trump announced the U.S. is trying to regain control of the Bagram airbase in Afghanistan, citing its strategic location near China's nuclear weapons facilities. The major base was abandoned during the 2021 withdrawal, which he has repeatedly criticized.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – In a significant and unexpected declaration, President Donald Trump announced Thursday that his administration is actively working to regain control of the Bagram airbase in Afghanistan, a sprawling and strategic facility the United States relinquished just weeks before the Taliban's complete takeover of the country in 2021.
The statement, made during a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, signals a potential major shift in U.S. policy toward Afghanistan and introduces a new geopolitical dimension centered on superpower competition with China.
“We're trying to get it back, by the way, that could be a little breaking news. We're trying to get it back because they need things from us,” President Trump stated, directly addressing the assembled international press at the British Prime Minister’s country residence.
His remarks suggest a strategy of leverage, though the specifics of what Afghanistan's current rulers "need" from the United States were not detailed.
The President left no ambiguity about the strategic desire to re-establish an American presence at the former hub of its military operations. “We want that base back,” Trump said emphatically, before providing a clear strategic rationale for the effort.
He explained that “one of the reasons we want the base is, as you know, it's an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons".
This explicit linking of the base to monitoring a rival superpower marks a distinct evolution in the stated purpose of a potential U.S. footprint in the region, moving beyond counter-terrorism to great-power competition.
Following the press conference, U.S. officials did not immediately provide clarification or further details on what President Trump meant by his statement or what concrete steps were being taken to reacquire access to the facility.
The Bagram airbase, located north of Kabul, was for two decades the undeniable linchpin of American and NATO military operations in Afghanistan. It served as the primary logistical and operational heart of the campaign that began after the September 11, 2001, attacks on Washington and New York, which led to the initial toppling of the Taliban regime.
Its abandonment in early July 2021 became a potent symbol of the end of America's longest war. U.S. and NATO forces departed the base, often under the cover of darkness, as part of a final withdrawal that preceded a lightning-fast offensive by the resurgent Taliban, who seized control of the entire country by August of that year.
Since his return to the presidency, Trump has frequently and pointedly criticized the loss of the base, weaving it into a broader political narrative attacking the handling of the final U.S. pullout by his predecessor, Joe Biden. The President has also consistently voiced concerns about what he describes as superpower rival China's growing economic and diplomatic influence in Afghanistan following the departure of Western forces.
