US Seeking To Regain Control Of Bagram Air Base In Taliban-Controlled Afghanistan: Trump

The United States is actively working to regain control over Bagram Air Base in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, President Trump told reporters this morning in a joint press conference with UK PM Starmer in England.

As The Epoch Times’ Ryan Morgan points out, U.S. forces relinquished control over the major air base in 2021, during the force drawdown from the country.

The United States handed over control of the base to the U.S.-backed Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, which collapsed in August 2021 as the Taliban seized control over the Afghan capital city of Kabul.

As Bloomberg reports, Trump has criticized former President Joe Biden over the tumultuous US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, claiming that the move left in the hands of the Taliban government American weaponry and other military assets, including the base at Bagram.

Trump has repeatedly said that the facility is now under the control of China, a claim that Afghan authorities have disputed, and that it still holds strategic value for the US.

Speaking during the press conference, Trump suggested that the current Taliban authority in Afghanistan needs things that the United States can provide, and may be amenable to a deal allowing a renewed U.S. presence at the key base.

“We’re trying to get it back, because they need things from us. We want that base back,” Trump said.

The president stressed the potential strategic significance of a renewed U.S. presence in Afghanistan, including as a strategic counterbalance to China.

“One of the reasons we want the base is, as you know, it’s an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons,” he said.

Watch the full exchange below:

We are trying to get the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan back.

That base is an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons.

-Trump pic.twitter.com/BPtxrzVKW4

— Osint Reports (@OTWR_) September 18, 2025