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“We’re trying to get it back,� Trump said of the base in an aside to a question about ending .

While Trump described his call for the U.S. military to reestablish a position in Afghanistan as “breaking news,� the Republican president has previously raised the idea. The White House did not immediately respond to questions about whether it or the Pentagon has done any planning around returning to the sprawling air base, which was central to .

During his first presidency, Trump by negotiating a deal with the Taliban. The 20-year conflict under President Joe Biden: The U.S.-backed Afghan government collapsed, a grisly bombing , and thousands of desperate Afghans descended on Kabul’s airport in search of a way out before the final U.S. aircraft departed over the Hindu Kush.

The Afghanistan debacle was a major setback just eight months into Biden’s Democratic presidency that he .

Biden’s Republican detractors, including Trump, in a failed presidency. Those into the present day, including as recently as last week, when Trump claimed the move emboldened Russian President Vladimir Putin to in February 2022.

“He would have never done what he did, except that he didn’t respect the leadership of the United States,� Trump said, speaking of Putin. “They just went through the Afghanistan total disaster for no reason whatsoever. We were going to leave Afghanistan, but we were going to leave it with strength and dignity. We were going to keep Bagram Air Base — one of the biggest air bases in the world. We gave it to them for nothing.�

It is unclear if the U.S. has any new direct or indirect conversations with the Taliban government about returning to the country. But Trump hinted that the Taliban, who have , international legitimacy, internal rifts and rival militant groups since in 2021, could be game to allow the U.S. military to return.

“We’re trying to get it back because they need things from us,� Trump said of the Taliban.

The president repeated his view that a U.S. presence at Bagram is of value because of its proximity to China, the most significant to the United States.

“But one of the reasons we want that base is, as you know, it’s an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons," Trump said. “So a lot of things are happening.�

While the U.S. and the Taliban have no formal diplomatic ties, the sides have had . An American man who was abducted more than two years ago while traveling through Afghanistan as a tourist was in March.

Last week, the Taliban also said they on an exchange of prisoners as part of an effort to normalize relations between the United States and Afghanistan.

The Taliban gave no details of a detainee swap, and the White House did not comment on the meeting in Kabul or the results described in a Taliban statement. The Taliban released photographs from their talks, showing their foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, with Trump’s special envoy for hostage response, .

Officials at U.S. Central Command in the Middle East and the Pentagon, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office, referred questions about reestablishing a presence at Bagram to the White House.