WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President\u00a0Donald Trump\u00a0on Thursday suggested that he is working to reestablish a U.S. presence at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, four years after\u00a0America\u2019s chaotic withdrawal\u00a0from the country left the base in the Taliban\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n
Trump floated the idea during a press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer as he wrapped up\u00a0a state visit to the U.K.\u00a0and tied it to the need for the U.S. to counter\u00a0its top rival, China.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to get it back,\u201d Trump said of the base in an aside to a question about ending\u00a0Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n
While Trump described his call for the U.S. military to reestablish a position in Afghanistan as \u201cbreaking news,\u201d the Republican president has previously raised the idea. The White House did not immediately respond to questions about whether it or the Pentagon has done any planning around returning to the sprawling air base, which was central to\u00a0America’s longest war.<\/p>\n
Trump has seized on the U.S. withdrawal under Biden<\/p>\n
During his first presidency, Trump\u00a0set the terms for the U.S. withdrawal\u00a0by negotiating a deal with the Taliban. The 20-year conflict\u00a0came to an end in disquieting fashion\u00a0under President Joe Biden: The U.S.-backed Afghan government collapsed, a grisly bombing\u00a0killed 13 U.S. troops and 170 others, and thousands of desperate Afghans descended on Kabul\u2019s airport in search of a way out before the final U.S. aircraft departed over the Hindu Kush.<\/p>\n
The Afghanistan debacle was a major setback just eight months into Biden\u2019s Democratic presidency that he\u00a0struggled to recover from.<\/p>\n
Biden\u2019s Republican detractors, including Trump,\u00a0seized on it as a signal moment\u00a0in a failed presidency. Those\u00a0criticisms have persisted\u00a0into the present day, including as recently as last week, when Trump claimed the move emboldened Russian President Vladimir Putin to\u00a0invade Ukraine\u00a0in February 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe would have never done what he did, except that he didn\u2019t respect the leadership of the United States,\u201d Trump said, speaking of Putin. \u201cThey just went through the Afghanistan total disaster for no reason whatsoever. We were going to leave Afghanistan, but we were going to leave it with strength and dignity. We were going to keep Bagram Air Base \u2014 one of the biggest air bases in the world. We gave it to them for nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked again about the proposal hours later on Air Force One, Trump offered no details but again bashed Biden for \u201cgross incompetence\u201d and said the base should have \u201cnever been given back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one of the most powerful bases in the world in terms of runway strength and length,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can land anything on there. You can land a planet on top of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
No clarity if there have been discussions with the Taliban about Bagram<\/p>\n
It is unclear if the U.S. has any new direct or indirect conversations with the Taliban government about returning to the country. But Trump hinted that the Taliban, who have\u00a0struggled with an economic crisis, international legitimacy, internal rifts and rival militant groups since\u00a0their return to power\u00a0in 2021, could be game to allow the U.S. military to return.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to get it back because they need things from us,\u201d Trump said of the Taliban.<\/p>\n
The president repeated his view that a U.S. presence at Bagram is of value because of its proximity to China, the most significant\u00a0economic and military competitor\u00a0to the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut one of the reasons we want that base is, as you know, it\u2019s an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons,” Trump said. \u201cSo a lot of things are happening.\u201d<\/p>\n
Late Thursday, Zakir Jalaly, an official at the Taliban Foreign Ministry, dismissed the idea of the U.S. returning to Bagram.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfghanistan and the U.S. need to interact with each other and can have economic and political relations based on mutual respect and common interests,\u201d Jalaly said on the social platform X. \u201cThe Afghans have not accepted a military presence in history, and this possibility was completely rejected during the Doha talks and agreement, but the door is open for further interaction.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the U.S. and the Taliban have no formal diplomatic ties, the sides have had\u00a0hostage conversations. An American man who was abducted more than two years ago while traveling through Afghanistan as a tourist was\u00a0released by the Taliban in March.<\/p>\n
Last week, the Taliban also said they\u00a0reached an agreement with U.S. envoys\u00a0on an exchange of prisoners as part of an effort to normalize relations between the United States and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
The Taliban gave no details of a detainee swap, and the White House did not comment on the meeting in Kabul or the results described in a Taliban statement. The Taliban released photographs from their talks, showing their foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, with Trump\u2019s special envoy for hostage response,\u00a0Adam Boehler.<\/p>\n
Officials at U.S. Central Command in the Middle East and the Pentagon, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth\u2019s office, referred questions about reestablishing a presence at Bagram to the White House.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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