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Trump Hints Troops Back to Afghan Base 09/19 06:09
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."
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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