【Text by Observer Net, Xiong Chaoran】At the end of August 2021, the US military hastily withdrew from Afghanistan, which became a symbol of the chaotic governance of the Biden administration. As political rivals, Trump and Republicans launched fierce criticism.
On September 18 local time, while on a state visit to the UK, US President Trump held a press conference with British Prime Minister Starmer. During the event, he once again criticized the Biden administration's Afghan policy as "a complete disaster," arguing that the US could have "strongly and honorably" withdrawn, while also retaining control over the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.
Beyond that, Trump told reporters that his government was preparing to reclaim the Bagram Air Base. This time, he not only repeatedly emphasized the "strategic value" of the base, claiming it was "necessary," but also made an irrelevant and forced connection to China, hyping up the claim that "the base is just one hour away from China's nuclear weapons facilities."
"By the way, we are working to regain (Bagram Air Base)," Trump described his idea that day as "a little breaking news," and claimed: "We are trying to regain the base because (Afghan government officials) need us to provide something. We want to regain that base, but one of the reasons we want to regain the base is, as you know, it is just one hour away from China's nuclear weapon manufacturing site."
The South China Morning Post reported that the Bagram base is currently under the control of the interim government of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Previously, Trump had frequently exaggerated the relationship between the base and China, but the Afghan side denied this claim.
Reuters cited multiple current and former US officials who said that Trump's idea of reclaiming the Bagram Air Base would require deploying more than 10,000 US soldiers and various advanced air defense systems, which looked likely to be "a new invasion of Afghanistan."
On September 18, 2025, in Aylesbury, UK, US President Trump and UK Prime Minister Starmer held a press conference at Chequers. Visual China
According to the report, Trump implied during his speech that the US could recover the Bagram Air Base after obtaining some form of agreement from the Afghan Taliban, but he did not provide any specific details about ongoing negotiations. It remains unclear how such an agreement would be formed.
The Bagram Air Base is 44 kilometers north of Kabul, Afghanistan. It was the largest military base of the US in Afghanistan and the central hub of the US-led 20-year war in Afghanistan. Until August 2021, when the US and NATO forces withdrew from Afghanistan, the base was also abandoned.
Reuters noted that during the Afghanistan War, the Bagram Air Base had fast food restaurants like Burger King and Pizza Hut to serve the US troops, as well as shops selling everything from electronics to Afghan carpets. Additionally, the base had a large prison.
The report quoted an unnamed US official who stated that the US currently has no detailed plan for military reoccupation of the Bagram Air Base. The official said that any effort to reclaim the base would be a "daunting task."
The official said that occupying and holding the Bagram Air Base would require thousands of soldiers, significant funds to repair the base, and face supply difficulties, as it would become an isolated "American enclave" in an inland country.
Even if the US retook the base, it would still require tremendous efforts to clean and secure its vast perimeter to prevent the area from being used to launch rocket attacks against驻扎的美军. "I don't see how this can be achieved in reality," the official said.
An F-16 fighter jet of the US Air Force takes off from Bagram Air Base (photo taken on January 23, 2015). Wikipedia
Experts also said that even if the US could recapture it, the massive airbase would be difficult to ensure security initially, requiring a large number of personnel to operate and protect. Even if the Afghan Taliban agreed to the US reoccupying the Bagram Air Base after negotiations, the base would still need to defend against threats from terrorist groups such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda. In addition, the base could also face the threat of advanced missiles from Iran. In June of this year, after the US airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, Iran attacked a major US airbase in Qatar.
In February of this year, Trump had complained that Biden had abandoned the Bagram Air Base and claimed that at that time, a small-scale US force could have been left there.
Reuters said that after Trump returned to the White House, he had boasted about wanting the US to gain territories such as the Panama Canal and Greenland. For years, it seems that he has also been focusing on the Bagram Air Base. If Trump's "garrison plan" were to come true, it would mean a "major reversal" in the situation, as the current Afghan Taliban government, which has been committed to expelling the US and regaining the country from the US-backed government, now holds power.
In March, when asked about Trump's claim that "China controlled the airbase," Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid warned the US: "They should not make emotional statements based on unfounded information."
In Reuters' interview coverage, a former senior US Defense Department official downplayed the significance of reclaiming the base, including the "geographic advantage" that Trump had hyped. "I don't think there is anything particularly strategic there," said the former military official: "The risks of reclaiming the base are probably greater than the benefits."
During Trump's first term in office, the US government had reached an agreement with the Afghan Taliban in Doha, the capital of Qatar, in February 2020, agreeing that US troops would completely withdraw from Afghanistan by May 2021. Subsequently, the Biden administration set a final deadline of August 31, 2021, for the withdrawal. However, in August 2021, the Afghan Taliban entered and took over Kabul, and the international coalition led by the US hastily evacuated, ending America's longest war in a hasty and disorganized manner.
Over the following two weeks, a shocking mass evacuation unfolded at Kabul International Airport, with tens of thousands of Afghans rushing into the airport. When US military planes were taxiing on the runway, many people ran alongside them, some tried to grab the sides of the planes, and at least six people fell from the sky; the Islamic State Khorasan Province (IS-K) launched a terror attack at the airport, and the US military, in panic, opened fire on the crowd, resulting in approximately 200 deaths, including 13 US service members.
August 16, 2021, a US C-17 transport plane taxis along the runway of Kabul International Airport, with people running next to it. Screenshot from video
Western society generally considers the withdrawal from Afghanistan as one of the worst governing blunders since Biden took office. The Biden administration also admitted that hundreds of billions of dollars in military equipment fell into the hands of the Afghan Taliban.
Many overseas social media users, media outlets, and even US congressmen compared this US withdrawal to the latest version of the "Saigon moment." AFP described the US withdrawal from Kabul as echoing the "exit from Saigon." Then-US Senate Republican leader McConnell compared the fall of Kabul to the "humiliating moment of Saigon in 1975."
It is worth noting that in a report released by the White House in April 2023, the Biden administration blamed the situation largely on the previous Trump administration. The White House report stated that the Trump administration lacked preparation for the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and did not provide the Biden administration with plans for the final phase of evacuating American citizens and Afghans who worked for the US, saying, "President Biden faced serious limitations in his choices for withdrawing from Afghanistan due to the conditions created by his predecessor."
August 30, 2021, multiple US aircraft take off from Kabul International Airport to evacuate. Photo
Since the Biden administration came into power, Western countries led by the US have continuously hyped up China's "nuclear expansion." In June 2021, the Washington Post claimed to have found 110 missile silos being built in Yumen, China; in July 2021, the New York Times cited so-called "think tank experts" stating that 110 missile silos for nuclear missiles were being built in Hami, Xinjiang, China, bringing the number of Chinese nuclear missile silos under construction to 250.
However, the US military stated in a report submitted to Congress in 2024 that as of 2023, "there is no known military contact between the PLA and the Taliban government in Afghanistan."
Regarding similar hype from the US, the People's Daily has long refuted it, pointing out that these "missile silos" are actually wind power generation bases. The People's Daily cited military expert Du Wenhong, stating that such hype by the US is not the first time, and the US previously mistakenly identified Fujian tulou as missile silos.
It is worth noting that the hype by US media and think tanks about China's "nuclear expansion" is essentially a case of "the thief accusing the victim." According to data from the United Nations website, the US conducted 1,032 tests from 1945 to 1992, making it the country with the most nuclear tests and the only country that deployed nuclear weapons during wartime. By 1996, a total of more than 2,000 nuclear tests were conducted worldwide.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, on August 20 this year, Afghan Prime Minister Ahmadi met with Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Foreign Minister, in Kabul.
Ahmadi said that China is a just force in the world, always committed to friendly cooperation with Afghanistan and other countries, promoting common development and progress. History has shown that those countries that attempt to interfere in other countries will eventually suffer the consequences, and only countries that follow a friendly policy can succeed, which is the unique aspect of China. Over the past two decades, Afghanistan has suffered from war and chaos, and some Western countries still maliciously smear Afghanistan. The Afghan government will work hard to resolve problems, promote development, improve people's livelihood, and will not create trouble for other countries. The Afghan government expects to strengthen cooperation with China, promote a positive and sustainable friendly relationship, and will not allow any forces to use Afghan territory to threaten China, and will always stand with China.
Wang Yi stated that historically, imperialists, colonizers, and hegemonists have all wanted to occupy Afghanistan, but ultimately failed. Such plots will not succeed in the future. China has always advocated that all countries are equal, opposes bullying the weak and exploiting the big, and countries should treat each other equally and achieve win-win cooperation. The world should not be rich getting richer and poor getting poorer, and every country, including Afghanistan, has the right to achieve development and revitalization.
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