By Katharine Jackson and Phil Stewart
Washington (Reuters) -S -President Donald Trump threatened on Saturday that “bad things” with Afghanistan would happen if it does not return control of Bagram's air base to the United States, and refused to exclude that troops are being set to take it again.
“If Afghanistan Bagram does not give air base to those who have built it, the United States of America, bad things will happen,” Trump said in a social post.
Trump said on Thursday that the United States had tried to regain control of the base used by the American troops after the attacks of September 11, 2001. He told reporters on Friday that he spoke to Afghanistan about it.
The withdrawal of American troops in 2021 led to an acquisition of American bases and the overthrow of the government supported by the US in Kabul, by the Islamic Taliban movement.
Afghan officials have opposed a new life.
The current and former American officials warn privately that the re -occupied of Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan will eventually look like a reinvasion of the country, for which more than 10,000 troops are needed and the use of advanced air defenses.
Trump, who has previously said that he wants the United States to acquire territories and sites ranging from the Panama Canal to Greenland, is aimed at Bagram for years.
Asked on Saturday if he would send us troops to take the base again, Trump refused to give a direct answer and say, “We won't talk about that.”
“We are now talking to Afghanistan and we want it back and we want it back soon, immediately. And if they don't do it – if they don't do it, you will find out what I'm going to do,” he told reporters in the White House.
The vast airport was the most important basis for American troops in Afghanistan during the two decades of war that followed the attacks of September 11, 2001 in New York and Washington by Al Qaida.
The basis once had fast food restaurants such as Burger King and Pizza Hut that focus on American troops and stores that sell everything, from electronics to Afghan carpets. It also organized a huge prison complex.
Experts say that the vast air base would be difficult to secure in the first instance and would require enormous manpower to work and protect.
Even if the Taliban accepted the American reconciliation of Bagram after negotiations, it should be defended from a large number of threats, including the Islamic State and Al Qaida militants in Afghanistan.
It can also be vulnerable to an advanced rocket threat from Iran, which attacked a large American air base in Qatar in June after the United States affected the Iranian nuclear locations.
(Reporting by Katharine Jackson; Edit by Leslie Adler and Andrea Ricci)
