U S President Donald Trump, at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Keir Starmer on 20 September 2025, during his visit to the UK, demanded that the Taliban regime hand the Bagram airbase back to the US or else face “bad” consequences. Trump’s remarks have yet again stirred the US–Taliban equations. Incidentally, the UK is not only one of the US’s closest NATO allies but was also the first country to take control of the Bagram base after the War on Terror was unleashed. The Taliban have rejected the demand and insist that not “even an inch” can be ceded to the US.

Bagram and geopolitics: A History

The former Soviet Union constructed the Bagram Air Base in the 1950s when it exercised considerable influence in Afghanistan. Later, after it militarily intervened in Afghanistan in th

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