On September 20th, President Trump told reporters that he wanted Bagram back for the United States. He claimed that it was given away for ‘nothing’ by former President Biden.
“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 am going to do.”
President Trump 20 September 2025
There’s a problem. The Doha Agreement that Trump negotiated and signed with the Taliban while he was POTUS in 2020 specifically states that the US will not interfere with Afghanistan after its departure. Trump did not include any clauses to keep Bagram Air Base. Predictably, the Taliban chief of staff of the Defense Ministry said, “Ceding even an inch of our soil to anyone is out of the question and impossible.”1
Afghanistan fighters have outlasted superpowers since the 1970s. The Mujahadeen survived nearly a decade of genocide under the USSR’s military. Later the Taliban survived nearly 20 years of America’s ‘shock and awe’ including Trump’s touted mother of all bombs.
So far this year, Trump has demanded that Canada submit to the US and become a state, has threatened military action against Denmark to get Greenland, and has made similar threats to retake Panama. For a President who campaigned on not starting any more wars, it is unclear how this militant foreign policy aligns with prior promises.
Further muddying the waters, President Trump bragged to the press that he had recently solving the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Trump stated:
“I think that we settled Aber-baijan and Albania,” Trump said during a joint press conference with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.2
That is not a typo. Trump mispronounced Azerbaijan calling it “Aber-baijan” and thought that Albania (several hundred miles from Azerbaijan’s border) was the belligerent state that he calmed down in the dispute. Does Trump know that he arranged the ill-fated Doha agreement and does he even know where Afghanistan is?
It is unclear if Trump is aiming to restart the Afghan war but it is clear that the Taliban who, right or wrong, were the winners of the failed US-Afghan war and they aren’t going to give it back without a fight.
- https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2025/09/22/taliban-rejects-trumps-bid-to-retake-bagram-air-base-in-afghanistan/
- https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-79-confused-over-which-countrys-war-he-solved/
As someone who voted for Trump I'm very disappointed. Not only because he behaves in very belligerent way by claiming control over Panama canal, Greenland, Bagram AB, renaming DOD into DoWar... but also and more so by his very foolish about face with Russia. Very stupid insults, continuing support for foolish Ukraine's regime may bring a catastrophy unless... it's the same war of words like it was with North Korea. But it brings everything to the edge....He might have some brain problem...