US Seeks Return of Key Afghan Airfield

Former President Donald Trump has expressed his desire for the U.S. to reclaim control of Bagram Airfield, criticizing its abandonment to the Taliban.

Donald Trump stated his wish to regain control of the Bagram air base in northeastern Afghanistan, which was quickly abandoned four years prior during the Taliban’s seizure of power.

Trump told reporters at the Oval Office that “We should have never given it up.” He mentioned ongoing negotiations with the new Afghan government regarding the base during his recent trip to the UK, stating “We want that base back.”

American forces withdrew from Bagram in July 2021, one month before Taliban fighters took control of Kabul, overthrowing the UN-backed government and ending the United States’ twenty-year presence in the country.

Images depicting the ransacked base and discarded military equipment became symbolic of the unsuccessful U.S. involvement in Afghanistan.

Despite having negotiated the withdrawal of American troops during his initial term, Trump placed blame for Kabul’s collapse on former President Joe Biden, calling the disorganized departure of the final U.S. soldiers “a disgrace.”

Zakir Jalaly, an official from the Afghan Foreign Ministry, communicated via X on Thursday that the Afghan population would oppose the return of U.S. troops, stating: “Afghanistan and the US need to engage with one another, and can have economic and political relations based on mutual respect, without the US maintaining any military presence in any part of Afghanistan,”

“`