Trump to take back Bagram base in Afghanistan, thats being operated by China; locals say surge in drone activity in the area
In recent days, residents of Parwan Province have reported videos of drones flying in the sky over Bagram Air Base. Locals say that drones have increased in the sky over Bagram since Donald Trump took office in the United States.
In separate reports, residents of Parwan said that they have witnessed drones flying in the skies of the province every day for the past week.
Donald Trump, the President of the United States of America, has repeatedly mentioned Bagram base with regret in his speeches. Trump last said at a cabinet meeting that the US should have kept the Bagram base in Afghanistan. He said the base was close to “China’s nuclear missile production area.”
The President of the United States once again claimed that China controls the Bagram base.
According to Trump, “We were going to keep Bagram, not for Afghanistan, but for China. Because it’s only an hour away from China’s nuclear missile production area. But we lost it, and now China has it.”
The Taliban had previously rejected Trump’s comments about the base. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement: “Afghanistan is independent and we will not give our territory to any country. Bagram is in the hands of our own forces (the Taliban), not China.
Will Trump return to Bagram?
During his election campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly said that if he wins the 2024 election, he would regain control of Bagram Air Base in cooperation with the Taliban.
At a conference in Iowa, Mr. Trump stated that the purpose of returning to this strategic base north of Kabul was to keep an eye on China. However, he has not officially said anything about returning to Bagram since he was sworn in and entered the White House.
Trump has also said that America would take back the weapons it left behind in Afghanistan. Pakistani authorities since sometime now have been demanding that America should take their weapons back.
Bagram Nase’s importance:
For the US and Nato, the Bagram airbase in Afghanistan has been the epicentre of the war against the Taliban and al-Qaeda for some 20 years. The US-led coalition forces moved in during December 2001, and it was developed into a huge base capable of holding up to 10,000 troops
The airport at Bagram was maintained by the Afghan Air Force (AAF) with some support from the United States. During the 1980s Soviet–Afghan War, it played a key role, serving as a hub for the Limited Contingent of Soviet Forces in Afghanistan operations and a base for its troops and supplies.
As per 2021 reports the then Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said maintaining a presence there would have been costly, and would not have helped the U.S. mission during the waning days of the 20-year war the U.S. waged in Afghanistan.
Status of American weapons:
According to the US Department of Defense, the remaining military equipment includes 78 military helicopters worth $923 million, more than 40,000 military vehicles out of a total of 96,000 vehicles, and more than 300,000 weapons out of a total of 427,000 weapons in Afghanistan.
According to officials, a number of military vehicles and equipment have been largely destroyed due to the war and face-to-face battles, and their operational status is unknown.
Also, after the fall of the Afghan government, significant amounts of ammunition and military equipment remained in the country, including 181,000 units of aerial ammunition and 9,200 ammunition launchers.
Former Afghan army forces transferred dozens of helicopters to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan on the final day of Afghanistan’s fall to the Taliban. The United States has reached agreements with the two countries to take the helicopters back from them.
The United States has a history of stockpiling military equipment in Afghanistan. After the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, the country purchased Stinger missiles from the Mujahideen.
Operation Cyclone was the codename for the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) initiative to supply weapons and funds to the Afghan mujahideen in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1992, before and during the Soviet Union’s military intervention in support of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. The mujahideen also received backing from Britain’s MI6, which carried out its own independent clandestine operations.
Operation Cyclone was among the lengthiest and most costly undercover CIA undertakings in history.
In the late 1970s, Pakistani intelligence officials began discreetly urging the U.S. and its allies to provide material aid to the Islamist rebels.
Starting in 1986, the U.S. supplied the mujahideen with the Stinger surface-to-air missile in substantial quantities. This weapon delivered a critical setback to the Soviet campaign by enabling the lightly armed Afghan fighters to effectively counter Soviet helicopter landings in key locations. The Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan on February 15, 1989.
After the Soviet pullout in 1989, the CIA initiated a program to reacquire unused missiles, but the mujahideen were reluctant to sell them back. Despite the agency offering $30,000 per missile, only around 70 were recovered. It’s estimated that approximately 100 Stingers remain in Afghanistan today.