Trump suggests US troops could return to base in Afghanistan, citing its
proximity to rival China
[September 19, 2025]
By AAMER MADHANI and KONSTANTIN TOROPIN
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday suggested that he
is working to reestablish a U.S. presence at Bagram Air Base in
Afghanistan, four years after America’s chaotic withdrawal from the
country left the base in the Taliban’s hands.
Trump floated the idea during a press conference with British Prime
Minister Keir Starmer as he wrapped up a state visit to the U.K. and
tied it to the need for the U.S. to counter its top rival, China.
“We’re trying to get it back,” Trump said of the base in an aside to a
question about ending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
While Trump described his call for the U.S. military to reestablish a
position in Afghanistan as “breaking news,” the Republican president has
previously raised the idea. The White House did not immediately respond
to questions about whether it or the Pentagon has done any planning
around returning to the sprawling air base, which was central to
America's longest war.
Trump has seized on the U.S. withdrawal under Biden
During his first presidency, Trump set the terms for the U.S. withdrawal
by negotiating a deal with the Taliban. The 20-year conflict came to an
end in disquieting fashion under President Joe Biden: The U.S.-backed
Afghan government collapsed, a grisly bombing killed 13 U.S. troops and
170 others, and thousands of desperate Afghans descended on Kabul’s
airport in search of a way out before the final U.S. aircraft departed
over the Hindu Kush.
The Afghanistan debacle was a major setback just eight months into
Biden’s Democratic presidency that he struggled to recover from.
Biden’s Republican detractors, including Trump, seized on it as a signal
moment in a failed presidency. Those criticisms have persisted into the
present day, including as recently as last week, when Trump claimed the
move 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 said, speaking 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.”
Asked again about the proposal hours later on Air Force One, Trump
offered no details but again bashed Biden for “gross incompetence” and
said the base should have “never been given back.”
“It’s one of the most powerful bases in the world in terms of runway
strength and length,” he said. “You can land anything on there. You can
land a planet on top of it.”
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A gate is seen at the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, Friday, June
25, 2021. President Donald Trump has suggested he's working to
reestablish a U.S. presence at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. That
comes four years after America’s chaotic withdrawal from the country
left the base in the Taliban’s hands. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)
No clarity if there have been discussions with the Taliban about
Bagram
It is unclear if the U.S. has any new direct or indirect
conversations with the Taliban government about returning to the
country. But Trump hinted that the Taliban, who have struggled with
an economic crisis, international legitimacy, internal rifts and
rival militant groups since their return to power in 2021, could be
game to allow the U.S. military to return.
“We’re trying to get it back because they need things from us,”
Trump said of the Taliban.
The president repeated his view that a U.S. presence at Bagram is of
value because of its proximity to China, the most significant
economic and military competitor to the United States.
“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 said.
“So a lot of things are happening.”
Late Thursday, Zakir Jalaly, an official at the Taliban Foreign
Ministry, dismissed the idea 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 said 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.”
While the U.S. and the Taliban have no formal diplomatic ties, the
sides have had hostage conversations. An American man who was
abducted more than two years ago while traveling through Afghanistan
as a tourist was released by the Taliban in March.
Last week, the Taliban also said they reached an agreement with U.S.
envoys on an exchange of prisoners as part of an effort to normalize
relations between the United States and Afghanistan.
The Taliban gave no details of a detainee swap, and the White House
did not comment on the meeting in Kabul or the results described in
a Taliban statement. The Taliban released photographs from their
talks, showing their foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, with
Trump’s special envoy for hostage response, Adam Boehler.
Officials at U.S. Central Command in the Middle East and the
Pentagon, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office,
referred questions about reestablishing a presence at Bagram to the
White House.
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