Trump says US trying to get Bagram Airfield back from Taliban in Afghanistan

President Donald Trump on Thursday said his administration is “trying” to get the former U.S. Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan “back” from the Taliban.

In remarks to the press while standing alongside U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the president criticized the handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan under President Joe Biden and said he had “a little breaking news.”

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

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Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban’s deputy prime minister for economic affairs, center, reviews honor guards during a military parade marking the third anniversary of the U.S.-led troop withdrawal at Bagram Air Base in Parwan province, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)

Trump did not expand on whom he was referring to or, if referring to the Taliban, the terrorist organization that took over the country in 2021, what they “need” from the United States.

“We want that base back, but one of the reasons we want the base is, as you know, it’s an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons,” Trump added. 

The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s questions regarding the president’s claims. 

In March, Fox News Digital reported that White House hostage envoy Adam Boehler met in person with Taliban officials at the Kabul International Airport as he worked to secure the release of George Glezmann.

U.S. President Donald Trump listens as Adam Boehler, the CEO of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, addresses the daily coronavirus task force briefing in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 14, 2020. REUTERS/Leah Millis (REUTERS/Leah Millis)

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Sources confirmed this was the first direct meeting between a U.S. administration and the terrorist-run government since the collapse of Kabul in 2021.

A report by AP later said that the Taliban were allegedly interested in normalizing ties with the U.S. after experiencing a virtual geopolitical blackout in international diplomacy over its immense human rights abuses.  

Boehler, along with another U.S. envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad, met with the Taliban’s foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, and reportedly discussed ways to “develop bilateral relations between the two countries, issues related to citizens, and investment opportunities in Afghanistan,” according to a Taliban statement. 

A Taliban fighter stands guard as women wait to receive food rations distributed by a humanitarian aid group in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, May 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)

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The removal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan began during the first Trump administration in March 2020, and open-source intelligence showed that the Taliban had been making gains across Afghanistan in the year leading up to the August 2021 withdrawal. 

Under the deal forged by the first Trump administration, the U.S. agreed to withdraw all U.S. forces by May 1, 2021, but Biden extended the withdrawal date to August 2021.