Trump announces that the US is trying to regain control of the Bagram air base, abandoned after withdrawal from Afghanistan. “We want it back”

The United States is trying to recover Bagram air base in Afghanistan, US President Donald Trump said on a common press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Reuters reports.

That historical landing track, built by the Soviets, was the main base of the American forces in Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks, until their withdrawal from 2021 led to the control by the Taliban Islamist Movement.

“We are trying to recover it,” said Trump, referring to the Bagram air base, invoking what he called its strategic location near China. “We want that base back,” the US president said.

“It's an hour away”

“It could be a breaking news,” Donald Trump said in the conference sustained after meeting with the British prime minister, then mentioning that the US government is trying to recover the Bagram air base in Afghanistan.

“One of the reasons why we want the basis is that it is one hour away from where China produces its nuclear weapons,” he explained.

The Bagram base was built by the Soviet Union in the 1950s, becoming its main base in the 1980s, when it defended Afghanistan's occupation, News.ro reporting BBC. The United States inherited the base when they overturned the Taliban regime in 2001.

Bagram had become a ruin after being abandoned by the Soviets, but the Americans rebuilt the base, which came to have an area of ​​approximately 77 square km.

For the US and NATO, the Bagram air base in Afghanistan was the epicenter of the war against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda for almost 20 years.

The coalition forces led by the US moved there in December 2001, and the base was transformed into a huge base, capable of hosting up to 10,000 soldiers.