The American President Donald Trump Said on Thursday that the United States Wants to Regain Control of An Airbase in Afghanistan. The Americans Left the Country in 2021, where the Taliban are back in power.
Trump Announced His Intention on Thursday at a Press Conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Accordance to Trump, The Bagram Airbase is strategically locationed at a distance from a place “Where China is developing nuclear weapons”. Afghanistan Borders a Small Part of China.
Defense expert Peter Wijninga of the Hague Center for Strategic Studies (HCSS) can Imagine That the Base Could Be of Strategic Importance to the Americans. “But it could also be that they mainly because to put pressure on China with this remark,” he tells nu.nl.
Trump Thinks That A Deal With The Taliban Should Be Possible, “Because They Want Things from Us”. Wijninga Understands What the American President Means. “The Taliban Fly with a lot of outdated American Equipment. No Parts are supplied for this and no maintenance is carried out. But it could also very well be about food aid.”
The Return of the Americans to Afghanistan would be striking. They withdrew from the country at an accelerated pace in 2021, after the Taliban Tok Power Faster Than Expected. The First Trump Administration had Reached an Agreement on this.
Return of Americans would be ‘Odd’
Trump Said on Thursday that the Americans would leave Afghanistan with Dignity, But Wanted to Keep Bagram. But The Peace Agreement That His Government Concluded In 2020 States That The Americans Will “Withdraw All Their Troops” From the “Remoining Bases”.
If the Americans Return to the Bagram Airbase, “That could well lead to complications,” Wijninga Emphasizes. “They are then in the middle of a country with a regime that would see them theme than come,” Says the expert, who himself was deployed to Afghanistan as a colonel in 2008.
Wijninga Emphasizes that it remains to be so what the follow-up to these statements will be. “It will be particularly interesting how China will react. Of course, they also know trump by now, so it could also be that they are shrug their shoulders at this.”