WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday recommended that he’s working to reestablish a U.S. presence at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, 4 years after America’s chaotic withdrawal from the nation left the bottom within the Taliban’s arms.
Trump floated the concept throughout a press convention with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer as he wrapped up a state go to to the U.Ok. and tied it to the necessity for the U.S. to counter its prime rival, China.
“We’re trying to get it back,” Trump stated of the bottom in an apart to a query about ending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Whereas Trump described his name for the U.S. army to reestablish a place in Afghanistan as “breaking news,” the Republican president has beforehand raised the concept. The White Home didn’t instantly reply to questions on whether or not it or the Pentagon has performed any planning round returning to the sprawling air base, which was central to America’s longest battle.
Trump has seized on the U.S. withdrawal underneath Biden
Throughout his first presidency, Trump set the phrases for the U.S. withdrawal by negotiating a cope with the Taliban. The 20-year battle got here to an finish in disquieting trend underneath President Joe Biden: The U.S.-backed Afghan authorities collapsed, a grisly bombing killed 13 U.S. troops and 170 others, and 1000’s of determined Afghans descended on Kabul’s airport searching for a manner out earlier than the ultimate U.S. plane departed over the Hindu Kush.
Kevin Dietsch by way of Getty Photographs
The Afghanistan debacle was a serious setback simply eight months into Biden’s Democratic presidency that he struggled to recuperate from.
Biden’s Republican detractors, together with Trump, seized on it as a sign second in a failed presidency. These criticisms have persevered into the current day, together with as not too long ago as final week, when Trump claimed the transfer emboldened Russian President Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine in February 2022.
“He would have never done what he did, except that he didn’t respect the leadership of the United States,” Trump stated, talking of Putin. “They 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 — one of the biggest air bases in the world. We gave it to them for nothing.”
Requested once more in regards to the proposal hours in a while Air Drive One, Trump supplied no particulars however once more bashed Biden for “gross incompetence” and stated the bottom ought to have “never been given back.”
“It’s one of the most powerful bases in the world in terms of runway strength and length,” he stated. “You can land anything on there. You can land a planet on top of it.”
No readability if there have been discussions with the Taliban about Bagram
It’s unclear if the U.S. has any new direct or oblique conversations with the Taliban authorities about returning to the nation. However Trump hinted that the Taliban, who’ve struggled with an financial disaster, worldwide legitimacy, inner rifts and rival militant teams since their return to energy in 2021, could possibly be recreation to permit the U.S. army to return.
“We’re trying to get it back because they need things from us,” Trump stated of the Taliban.
The president repeated his view {that a} U.S. presence at Bagram is of worth due to its proximity to China, probably the most important financial and army competitor to the US.
“But one of the reasons we want that base is, as you know, it’s an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons,” Trump stated. “So a lot of things are happening.”
Late Thursday, Zakir Jalaly, an official on the Taliban International Ministry, dismissed the concept of the U.S. returning to Bagram.
“Afghanistan and the U.S. need to interact with each other and can have economic and political relations based on mutual respect and common interests,” Jalaly stated on the social platform X. “The 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.”
Whereas the U.S. and the Taliban don’t have any formal diplomatic ties, the edges have had hostage conversations. An American man who was kidnapped greater than two years in the past whereas touring by Afghanistan as a vacationer was launched by the Taliban in March.
Final week, the Taliban additionally stated they reached an settlement with U.S. envoys on an trade of prisoners as a part of an effort to normalize relations between the US and Afghanistan.
The Taliban gave no particulars of a detainee swap, and the White Home didn’t touch upon the assembly in Kabul or the outcomes described in a Taliban assertion. The Taliban launched images from their talks, displaying their overseas minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, with Trump’s particular envoy for hostage response, Adam Boehler.
Officers at U.S. Central Command within the Center East and the Pentagon, together with Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth’s workplace, referred questions on reestablishing a presence at Bagram to the White Home.
