Bagram Air Base: Strategic linchpin of US power projection? Should India be concerned over Trump's obsession | Explained

The Taliban's supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, on Saturday condemned US President Donald Trump's bid to retake Bagram Air Base, four years after the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan handed control of the strategic military base to the Taliban.

Trump has renewed his push to regain the sprawling military facility.

On Saturday, Trump expressed his desire to reestablish a US presence at Bagram, claiming that “we're talking now to Afghanistan” about the possibility, though he provided no further details about these discussions.

“We won’t talk about that,” Trump said. “We want it back, and we want it back right away. If they don’t do it, you’re going to find out what I’m going to do.”

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Despite lacking formal international recognition, the Taliban has established diplomatic ties with nations like China and Russia, and continues to call for broader global engagement.

Earlier, the chief of staff at the Afghan Defence Ministry, Fasihuddin Fitrat, addressed Trump's comments. “Ceding even an inch of our soil to anyone is out of the question and impossible,” he said during a speech broadcast by Afghan media.

In August last year, the Taliban celebrated the third anniversary of their takeover at Bagram with a grand military display of abandoned US hardware, catching the eye of the White House.

Trump has repeatedly criticised his predecessor, Joe Biden, for his “gross incompetence” during the withdrawal of US forces after the country's longest war.

It was under Trump that the US brokered a deal with the Taliban in Doha in 2020 that would have seen the US withdraw all its troops by May 2021 in exchange for various security guarantees from the militants.

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Trump last week, during his state visit to the United Kingdom, 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 US military to return.

“We're trying to get it back because they need things from us,” Trump said of the Taliban. While the US and the Taliban have no formal diplomatic ties, the sides have had hostage conversations.

US obsession with Bagram Air Base

During his first term, Donald Trump negotiated an agreement with the Taliban that laid the foundation for the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. However, the final pullout occurred under former President Joe Biden and was widely seen as chaotic and mismanaged.

The rapid collapse of the US-backed Afghan government, a deadly bombing that killed 13 US service members and 170 others, and the frantic scenes of thousands of Afghans crowding Kabul airport marked a grim end to America's 20-year presence.

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This episode became a major political blow to Biden just months into his presidency, with critics, especially Trump, accusing him of “weakness and poor leadership”.

Trump claimed that the disorderly withdrawal not only humiliated the US but also emboldened Russian President Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine in 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.”

Bagram Air Base: From Soviet 'outpost' to US 'stronghold'

Bagram Air Base, situated just north of Kabul, has long held strategic significance.

The airfield itself has deeper roots, originally built by the Soviet Union in the 1950s. When the USSR invaded Afghanistan in 1979 to support the country's communist regime, Bagram became its primary military hub, serving as the central base for its operations during the decade-long occupation.

Over the years, Bagram evolved from a Cold War-era outpost into one of the most strategically significant military installations in the region.

With two runways (including a 12,000-foot airstrip), over 100 fortified aircraft parking bays, a 50-bed hospital, and massive logistics infrastructure, it was considered one of the most advanced military facilities in the region, according to media reports.

Its proximity to key geopolitical hotspots, roughly 400 miles from China and 500 miles from Iran, made it invaluable for intelligence gathering, air power projection, and counterterrorism missions.

In its early years, Bagram was also notorious for its prison complex, which was eventually handed over to Afghan authorities in 2012. Among many Afghans, the base became synonymous with fear, second only to Guantanamo Bay.

Why does Donald Trump want Bagram Air Base? Expert says…

In 2025, Trump's calls for regaining control, framed around the site’s proximity “just an hour from China’s nuclear weapons production”, highlight efforts to counter Beijing's regional expansion, according to a report by Orion Institute Policy.

B.R. Deepak, professor, Center of Chinese and Southeast Asian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, said, “The United States’ renewed interest in Bagram Air Base stems from its strategic location, offering proximity to critical parts of Afghanistan, Central Asia, and neighbouring powers such as China, making it valuable for surveillance and counterterrorism operations.”

Strategic facilities such as Lop Nur, located 2,000 km east, enhance Bagram’s deterrent value, giving it an edge over US bases in the Philippines, which lie 3,000 miles from Xinjiang. Yet, Taliban refusals threaten escalation, with proposals for “episodic access” through counterterrorism coordination cells emerging as a possible diplomatic compromise.

Deepak further noted that Washington may also be “eyeing Afghanistan’s untapped mineral wealth, including rare earths, as a way to reduce dependence on Chinese supply chains”.

Should India be concerned?

Deepak noted, “The US bid to reclaim Bagram is significant for India as it could reshape the regional power balance, offering checks on China, but given the bonhomie between the US and Pakistan, it also creates problems for India.”

“It could also destabilise Afghanistan and threaten India’s investments there. Therefore, it will force India to carefully navigate its diplomacy with the Taliban, the US-Pak rapprochement and China-Pak nexus while safeguarding its strategic, economic, and connectivity interests in the region,” he stressed.

China's growing defence power

China, meanwhile, continues to allocate the world’s second-largest defence budget after the United States.

In the victory parade held this year, Chinese President Xi Jinping said China is "unstoppable" in a speech kicking off a massive parade in Beijing marking 80 years since the end of World War II.

"Humanity is again faced with a choice of peace or war, dialogue or confrontation, and win-win outcomes or zero-sum games," he said. The military parade was marked by the presence of the JL-3, a new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

According to a 2024 Defence Intelligence Agency assessment, Beijing is engaged in the fastest and most ambitious nuclear modernisation in its history, driven by long-term strategic competition with Washington. This effort involves a vast expansion of missile silos and the development of mobile, air-launched, and submarine-based nuclear delivery systems.