LONDON, September 18. /TASS/. The US government is taking efforts to regain control over the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, US President Donald Trump said during a joint news conference with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

"We are going to keep Bagram, one of the biggest airbases in the world. We gave it for nothing. We are trying to get it back by the way. OK, that could be a little breaking news," he said.

"We're trying to get it back, because they need things from us. We want that base back. But one of the reasons we want the base is, as you know, it's an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons," Trump added.

In 2001-2021, the Bagram Air Base served as the largest base of the US-led international coalition in Afghanistan. On July 1, 2021, US forces left it, and on August 15 it fell under control of the Taliban radical movement.

On April 14, 2021, then-US President Joe Biden announced a decision to end the country’s military operation in Afghanistan, the longest foreign military campaign in the history of the United States. The US launched the operation in October 2001. At its peak - from 2010 to 2013 - the number of Western forces in Afghanistan surpassed 150,000. The withdrawal of US troops began in May 2021. The main combat forces of NATO and the US left Afghanistan in 2014.

After the US announced that it was withdrawing from the country, the Taliban movement embarked on a large-scale operation to take control of Afghanistan. On August 15, 2021, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani stepped down and fled the country, while Taliban fighters swept into Kabul without encountering any resistance. By early September 2021, all US forces had left Afghanistan.