By Khushboo Razdan,Robert Delaney

Copyright scmp

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that his administration was moving to retake control of Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, claiming that such a move was necessary because of the facility’s proximity to nuclear weapons sites in China.
Bagram, located 44 kilometres (27 miles) north of Kabul, was the largest US military base in Afghanistan and the central hub of the 20-year US-led campaign until American and Nato forces withdrew in 2021 under former US president Joe Biden.
“We’re trying to get [the base] back, by the way,” Trump said, calling the effort “a little breaking news.” He added: “We’re trying to get it back because [Afghan government officials] need things from us. 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.”
The base is now controlled by Afghanistan’s Taliban-led defense ministry. Trump has repeatedly stressed the base’s strategic value and alleged it was under Chinese control, a claim Afghan authorities have denied.
Speaking at a press conference alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Trump blasted the Biden administration over the “total disaster” in Afghanistan, saying the US withdrawal could have been carried out with “strength and dignity”, and in a way that would have allowed America to retain control over the Bagram base.

He did not provide further details about any ongoing negotiations with the Taliban on reclaiming the facility.
In March, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid warned the US when asked for a response to Trump’s claims at the time that China currently controls the air base.
“They should refrain from making emotional statements based on unsubstantiated information,” he told the Taliban’s official broadcaster.
Trump negotiated the troop withdrawal agreement with the Taliban in February 2020 during his term, but the pull-out was carried out under Biden.
“We were going to get out, but we were going to keep Bagram, not because of Afghanistan but because of China, because it’s exactly one hour away from where China makes its nuclear missiles,” Trump stated back then. “And you know who’s occupying it right now? China. Biden gave it up,” he said.
The Post reached to the Chinese embassy in Washington for a response to Trump’s claims.
The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) published a study in 2021 on new construction work on missile silos in China. With the help of satellite images, FAS discovered a large area near Hami in the northwestern region of Xinjiang where silos for nuclear missiles were under construction.
However, the US military said in a 2024 report to Congress that, as of 2023, “there were no known PLA military engagements with the Taliban government.” That report flagged only that China’s foreign minister met in Islamabad with his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts “to discuss stability in Afghanistan, regional peace, counterterrorism, security for PRC nationals, institutions, and projects in the region”.
The US military withdrawal from Bagram was marred by a terrorist attack that killed more than 180 Afghans and 13 US service members, and by the Biden administration’s acknowledgement that tens of billions of dollars in military equipment had fallen into the Taliban’s hands.
The former Afghan government and security forces collapsed quickly following the withdrawal, forcing American officials to cooperate with the Taliban to ensure that evacuations could continue.
As Republican lawmakers assailed Biden, then-secretary of state Antony Blinken and other administration officials stressed that the operation was “the largest non-combatant” evacuation in US military history.
“Our airmen experienced circumstances unlike any they have faced before, yet their training, innovation, and compassion were evident throughout Operations Allies Refuge and Allies Welcome,” then-Air Force chief of staff CQ Brown junior said in an announcement commemorating the operation in 2022.
“The secretary of defence has acknowledged the withdrawal from Afghanistan was imperfect, but it does not diminish the historic feat our airmen accomplished in transporting more than 124,000 people to safety and hope,” he added.