Donald Trump has long regretted the total exit from Afghanistan. Now it seems to be closer to reversing part of it
United States President Donald Trump has discreetly pressured his national security guard for months to find a way to recover the Bagram air base in Afghanistan from the hands of the Taliban confirmed three people familiar with the subject to CNN.
Trump made publicly imprisonment for the first time on Thursday that these discussions are running, telling journalists that his administration is working to recover the base control, which is one hour north of Cabul. The Talibans took control of the base after the collapse of the Afghan government and the removal of US military forces in 2021.
“We deliver it [aos Talibãs] For free, ”said Trump during a joint press conference with UK Prime Minister Kier Stmerer.” By the way, we are trying to recover it. “
The sources told CNN that conversations about the return of the base to US control dating back at least to March. Trump and his high national security officials believe the base is necessary for several reasons, including to watch over China, whose border is about 800 kilometers away; Get access to elements of rare land and mining in Afghanistan; Establish a center of contractorism to combat ISIS; and possibly reopen a diplomatic installation.
But all these goals would require US military presence, one of the sources said. And an agreement that Trump signed with the Talibans in 2020 during his first term required the total removal of US troops from the country.
It is unclear whether or how the talibans have been involved with the US to give up control of the important aerodrome. But Trump suggested on Thursday that the US has influence on the group.
“We are tempting to recover-because [os Talibãs] They need our things, ”Trump told reporters in Buckinghamshire.“ We want this base back. ”
Trump had previously nominated that if US withdrawal in 2021 had occurred during his government, he would have maintained Bagram control, citing his strategic importance near the border between Afghanistan and China. Earlier this month, the US President said the Biden government was “very stupid” to remove US troops from the base in 2021.
Trump also said Thursday that Bagram is close to where China manufactures missiles, a statement it had already made in March.
“We were going out, but we were going to keep a bad, not because of Afghanistan, but because of China, because it is exactly an hour away from where China manufactures its nuclear missiles,” he said in March. “We were going to keep a small force in Bagram.”
The latest US troops left Bagram Air Base in July 2021. The base was the center of US military power in Afghanistan for almost two decades.
The two -kilometer track was the starting point for military operations across the country, with space for cargo aircraft, fighters and attack helicopters. Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump visited Bagram during their mandates, promising victory and a better future for Afghanistan. The base has also been the subject of numerous taliban attacks over the years, including suicide attacks and rocket attacks.
When US troops left the base in 2021, they removed the equivalent of nearly 900 C-17 loads and destroyed nearly 16,000 parts of equipment in the process, the US Central Command at the time said.
In 2023, the State Department released a post-action analysis of the withdrawal, which concluded that the US decision to leave Bagram probably contributed to the country’s chaotic departure from the country as a whole, as it meant that Hamid Karzai International Airport in Cabul would “be the only way for a possible non-combatant withdrawal operation.”
