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.
President Donald Trump says the US wants to reclaim an abandoned airbase in Afghanistan, an installation near China's nuclear capabilities. It's not the first time Trump has said that the US should reopen Bagram Air Base, which was forfeited during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. He says it's necessary to counter China. At a press conference in the UK on Thursday, Trump told reporters the US was "trying to get" Bagram back but did not elaborate on plans to do so.