US President Donald Trump expressed interest in reclaiming the Bagram Air Base from the Taliban to use in counterterrorism operations during a press conference in the UK on Thursday.
The airbase, located in Afghanistan, could be a strategically advantageous location for counterterrorism operations against ISIS, a US official familiar with the discussions told the Wall Street Journal.
CNN reported that the US administration may seek to regain the base for improved access to rare earth minerals as well as to potentially reopen a diplomatic facility.
“We gave it to (the Taliban) for nothing,” Trump said in a press conference last week with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. “We’re trying to get it back, by the way. We’re trying to get it back because (the Taliban) need things from us."
However, a source familiar with the matter told CNN that all of the above objectives would require a US military presence, which would directly go against a 2020 agreement Trump signed in his first term that required a full US withdrawal.
Afghanistan is currently ruled by the Taliban, which gained control of the nation in 2021 after the US withdrew from the country.
Zakir Jalal, an Afghan Foreign Ministry official, released a statement on X/Twitter in response, urging the US president not to attempt to regain the base. Instead, Jalal recommended that the two nations “engage with each other and can have economic and political relations based on mutual respect and shared interests,” rather than with military actions.
Trump has cited Bagram’s proximity to China as one of the main motivations behind this proposed move, stating that the location is “about an hour away from where China is developing its nuclear weapons.”
A former Pentagon official told the Wall Street Journal that, based on satellite and electronic monitoring of China’s nuclear program, any attempt to recapture Bagram would not provide the US with a strategic advantage.
Attempts at US-Afghan normalization
This comes as officials have been working towards improving diplomatic relations between the United States and Afghanistan.
On September 13, Taliban officials and US officials held a meeting in Kabul. According to a Taliban statement, the meeting to discuss diplomatic normalization and cooperation was successful, leading to an agreement that would have US hostages detained in Afghanistan freed in exchange for Afghan prisoners.
US officials have not yet released any statements regarding the meeting.