Trump pushes to retake Bagram as Taliban reject return

President Donald Trump said on Thursday his administration is pressing to retake Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, a site the United States abandoned during its 2021 withdrawal, but Afghan authorities led by the Taliban have rejected any return of U.S. military forces. Trump made the comments at a news conference alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, saying the administration was "trying to get it back" and citing the base's strategic location roughly north of Kabul and, he said, its proximity to Chinese nuclear facilities.

Trump argued that U.S. control of Bagram would be important for regional leverage. "One of the reasons we want the base, as you know, is it is an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons," he said. He also said Kabul "needs things from us" and that talks to reclaim the facility were underway, though he did not provide details of negotiations with the Taliban.

Taliban and Afghan foreign ministry officials swiftly rebuffed the proposal. A foreign ministry official, Zakir Jalaly, wrote on social media that Afghanistan and the United States should engage politically and economically but that the U.S. "will not be allowed to reestablish a...