As US President Donald Trump has as soon as once more claimed of China occupying the Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan, the key military airfield has come underneath the highlight. Trump has additionally confused that the US goes to maintain the airbase.
Earlier this month, in addition to at this time, the US president reinstated that the US will preserve the large Air Force base, which is simply an hour away from the place China makes its nuclear weapons.
He additionally stated that the US can not surrender on one of the largest airbases in the world, among the many strongest and longest runways anyplace in the world.
Also learn: ‘You know who occupies it, CHINA’: Trump stresses US will preserve Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan
Story of Bagram Airbase
Bagram Airbase is a serious military airfield, positioned in the Parwan province of Afghanistan. The largest air base in Afghanistan lies about 60 km north of Kabul in the Parwan province.
It has a major strategic significance because it has served main US and NATO military operations in Afghanistan for a few years.
The airbase was constructed by the Soviet Union in 1950 and the USSR had management over it throughout the early days of the Cold War. During the Soviet-Afghan warfare, the airbase was fortified and began lodging military personnel from the USSR.
The US got here in the picturee in 1959, when then US President Dwight Eisenhower paid a go to to Afghanistan and landed in Bagram.
WATCH | Afghanistan: Taliban rejects Chinese presence as Trump vows bagram takeover
In 1990, the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan, and the airbase was left deserted. It then grew to become the frontline between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance military. However, throughout the battle, the airbase was severely broken.
Later in 2001 after the 9/11 terror assault, the US and its Western allies took over the Afghan airfield. For the subsequent 20 years, they managed the Bagram airbase, claiming that they had been utilizing it for America’s “War on terrorism”.
In 2020, the US and the Taliban signed a deal to withdraw worldwide forces from Afghanistan by May 2021.
The final American plane took off from the Kabul airport on August 30, 2021, and the US forces vacated Bagram on July 2. The airbase formally was handed over to the Taliban on August 15.
The base is presently underneath Taliban management, nonetheless, the US has been stressing that China made the entry into Afghanistan’s airbase after they left.
Earlier this 12 months in March, Trump made comparable claims of China making its nuclear missiles, an hour away from the airbase. To this, the Taliban issued a press release denying the claims.
“Bagram is managed by the Islamic Emirate (Taliban), not China. Chinese troops usually are not current right here, nor do now we have any such pact with any nation,” it stated.
WATCH | US President Trump claims China controls Bagram air base, pledges to reclaim it