President Donald Trump said his administration is attempting to get the former U.S. Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan back from the Taliban.
The President made the remarks while standing alongside U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer. President Trump criticized the handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan under former President Joe Biden, which included a highly criticized secret evacuation of the air base at the time.
“We’re trying to get it back… We’re trying to get it back because they need things from us,” Trump said, per Fox News.
It is unclear if Trump was referring to the Taliban in the statement. However, the President did go on to highlight the strategic importance of Bagram.
“We want that base back, but one of the reasons we want the base is, as you know, it’s an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons,” Trump said.
In 2023, The Dallas Express reported that U.S. Rep. Cory Mills introduced a resolution in the House to impeach U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin for the botched U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in the summer of 2021. The withdrawal included alleged negligence by Austin over the evacuation of Bagram Air Base.
“During the night of July 1, 2021, Bagram Air Base was secretly evacuated, which was subsequently de facto turned over to Afghan Government control without notice to them,” said the text of the bill.
Earlier this year, Fox News Digital reported that White House hostage envoy Adam Boehler met in person with Taliban officials at Kabul International Airport as part of efforts to release George Glezmann. This was reportedly the first direct meeting between a U.S. administration and the Taliban since the fall of Kabul in 2021.